
Brazilian Squirrels (Guerlinguetus aestuans) are twenty-centimeter large rodents endemic to South America.
Tree-dwelling species, Brazilian Squirrels are diurnal and live high on top of trees, subsisting primarily on fruits and insects, making excellent seed dispersers as they cover large distances and like to carefully bury seeds as the critically endangered Araucaria trees (Araucaria angustifolia) on the ground. Brazilian Squirrels choose mature vegetation to live in as well as to reproduce, take care of its young, and store food.
They usually live solitarily or in pairs and can live up to fifteen years. Females give birth to one or two pups once a year. They prefer high canopies, where they build their dreys or clear hollow spaces inside tree trunks. They are more commonly found in preserved forests, away from urban areas. Brazilian Squirrels can easily puncture bamboo nodes in search of accumulated water and insect larvae. Brazilian Squirrels can jump distances of up to five meters between branches, are territorial, and possess refined hearing and vision skills.
Brazilian Squirrels are prey to the jaguar (Panthera onca) and ocelots (Leopardus pardalis).
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