Flying squirrel spotted in Tansa ………..Yogesh Naik | TNN
Tansa Sanctuary (Shahapur): In the first sighting of its kind, forest authorities in Tansa sanctuary recorded the presence of flying squirrels. Tansa, in Thane district, is about 50 km outside Mumbai.
Assistant conservator of forest at Tansa, Ajay Pillarishet, said, Sometime in 2007, the then deputy conservator of forest, Sarfaraz Khan, caught a minor tribal boy at Sonala in Tansa for hunting. It was through talking to him that the forest department realised that there were flying squirrel in the forests. The boy told the officials about the hideouts, we kept watch, and this monsoon we actually saw them.
The boy was fined Rs 500 under the Wildlife Protection Act and put on a three-year probation (on no account should he commit a wildlife-related offence during this period).
The squirrels were seen near Aghai in the 338-sq-km Tansa sanctuary. The flying squirrel is a nocturnal animal and the right time to spot it is in the late evening on full moon nights. These squirrels live in the hollows of very tall trees and forage for food which includes fruits and even insects.
While ordinary squirrels simply just leap from one branch to another, the flying ones can fly for up to 50 to 60 feet at one go. They have a skin attachment on the front and hind legs, which spreads out and works like a parachute. These squirrels normally fly from the top of one tree to the foot of another.
Flying squirrels are known to hunt in pairs and are territorial. Pillarishet says their presence in Tansa is scattered. But since we have identified the areas where they live, we will protect the habitat by avoiding forests fires and make it conducive for their growth, said Pillarishet.
Forest officials said the flying squirrel is found in Western Maharashtra and the forests of Vidarbha. They are normally found both in moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests.
The tribals in Tansa hunt them for their meat and call them pachya manjar.
Environmentalist Bittu Sehgal said that though Tansa is not a well managed sanctuary, the presence of the flying squirrel indicates that the canopy of forest is still good.
Another environmentalist, Aneesh Andheria, said that the flying squirrel must have been in the forest for quite some time, its just that the forest department has recorded its presence now.
FLYING OR GLIDING?
FLYING OR GLIDING?