Mountain Treeshrew

About the Mountain Treeshrew

The mountain treeshrew (Tupaia montana) is a treeshrew species within the Tupaiidae. It is endemic to Borneo and inhabits montane forests in Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia, and Kalimantan, Indonesia, as well as a part of southeastern Brunei.

The first specimen was described by Oldfield Thomas and was part of a zoological collection from northern Borneo obtained by the British Museum of Natural History. The mountain treeshrew is dark grizzled rufous above with an indistinct black line along the back. Its tail is rather short and grizzled rufous above, but below more olivaceous yellow with a black tip. The lateral tail hairs are ringed. The head and body length measures 15–33 cm and the tail length measures 13–19 cm.

Charles Hose collected the first specimen at about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) on Mount Dulit. Mountain treeshrews have mostly been recorded in montane outcrops above 600 m (2,000 ft). In their natural habitat, mountain treeshrews were observed being active during the day. They forage on the ground among fallen logs and branches where they feed mostly on arthropods. They also consume large quantities of... Wikipedia →