Killer Squirrel has World's Bushiest Tail

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The tufted ground squirrel, Rheithrosciurus macrotis, is an elusive species living in the dense rainforests of Borneo. Few scientists have set eyes on this rare squirrel, currently listed as vulnerable, though according to folklore, the fierce squirrels have attacked and killed tusked deer called muntjacs to eat their stomach contents, liver, and heart. The squirrel waits on a low branch, then jumps on to the back of a passing muntjac and bites its jugular, forcing the larger animal to bleed out. A disemboweled deer or domestic chicken with none of its flesh eaten is a sure sign of a squirrel kill.

Tall tales aside, the tropical squirrel is also remarkable in many ways. Even though it’s only found on one Southeast Asian island (having colonized Borneo as early as 36 million years ago), its nearest living relatives are an ocean away in South America. Its penis bone (or baculum) and incisors, oddly enough, are like those of the genus Sciurus, common to Eurasia and the Americas, and unlike other Southeast Asian squirrels.

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