salt licking mangrove squirrel @ berlayar creek - July 2012

Was out at Berlayar Creek early to catch the eagles waking up and was distracted by a rustling in the tree behind me. It was Mr. Plantain Squirrel out for his morning's ... minerals? I as surprised to see it licking the leaves of the mangrove tree. It seemed to be interested mainly in the underside of the  leaves and also the surface of the bark of a branch. It held the leaves between its hands and licked it like a child doing his favourite ice-cream flavour justice. Occasionally, it plucked off a leaf from a branch and licked it before discarding it.

Mangrove trees are able to live in salt water due to their ability to excrete salt from their leaves (and possibly woody branches as well going by what the squirrel in this video clip did towards the end). This allows the mangrove trees to regulate the salt content within their vascular system.

Time : 0715am

salt licking mangrove squirrel @ berlayar creek - July 2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

plantain squirrel breakfast @ SBWR

Plantain Squirrels can be commonly found all over the SBWR (and indeed in most of Singapore's forested as well as in urban areas with lots of tree cover). They are surprisingly very much at home amongst the mangrove trees. This particular squirrel was foraging for food on the mangrove mud amongst the stilt roots of the mangrove trees. It managed to find what seems to be a morsel of discarded pineapple or some other similar fruit which it then made a quick breakfast of.

Read more about these squirrels here :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/mammals/notatus.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/plantain_squirrel.htm

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/squirrel.htm

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/05/plantain-squirrel-sbwr-30apr2011.html

http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/3600/0

plantain squirrel @ SBWR 30Apr2011

These squirrels are commonly found all over Singapore. This particular one was at the SBWR Mangrove Boardwalk at about 1pm actively biting into and eating the bark of what seems to be a Sea Hibiscus bush. Maybe it was looking for bugs below the bark but it sure seemed to bite deep into the branches.

Read more about this entertaining squirrel here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/mammals/notatus.htm
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/plantain_squirrel.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/squirrelplantain.htm