New Delhi: Rare squirrel flying claw fur using parachute has been spotted in Gangotri National Park in Uttarkashi. The survey of the Uttarakhand Forest Research Center has found squirrels at eighteen out of the thirteen forest divisions in the state, while the IUCN's Red List found the Wooly Squirrel to be extinct seventeen years ago. However, a scientist from Dehradun Wildlife Institute has spoken about its occurrence in the Bhagirath Valley and rare images have also been found.
This woolly squirrel keeps its nests mostly on oak, cedar and rosewood trees. Flying squirrels are seen in golden, brown and dark colors. A thirty-five-centimeter-long flying squirrel has also been spotted in Lansdon in Kotdwar. Due to the neck being striped, the local people also speak Patta tiger. Earlier the number of these squirrels was high but due to the cutting forest and global warming, its number has started decreasing. Now, these squirrels have been registered in Schedule-2 of the Wildlife Protection Act.
By using its claw fur as a parachute, it can glide from four hundred to five hundred meters. Jyoti Prakash, who researches these squirrels, says that it took ten to twelve days to find its nest in the forest. After applying continuous camera trap for seven to eight days, some pictures and videos of flying squirrel have been found.
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