The large treeshrew (''Tupaia tana'') is a

treeshrew The treeshrews (or tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia, which split into two families: the Tupaiidae (19 species, "ordinary" treeshrew ...

species within the Tupaiidae. It is native to Sumatra and adjacent small islands, as well as in the lowlands and hills of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...

.Payne, J., Francis, C. M., Phillipps, K. (1985). ''Field guide to mammals of Borneo''. The Sabah Society with World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.

Habitat

Large treeshrews are the most predominantly terrestrial of all treeshrew species. They are usually on the forest floor, the primary location for their foraging, although they spend part of their time in trees.Yasuma, S., Andau, M., Apin, L., Yu, F.T.Y., and Kimsui, L. (2003). ''Identification keys to the mammals of Borneo: Insectivora, Scandentia, Rodentia and Chiroptera''. Park Management Component BBEC Programme, Sabah. ''T. tana'' has been described as mainly terrestrial based on field observations and their morphological traits.Wells, K., Pfeiffer, M., Lakim, M. B., and Kalko, E. K. V. (2006). ''Movement trajectories and habitat partitioning of small mammals in logged and unlogged rain forest on Borneo''. Journal of Animal Ecology 75(5): 1212–1223.Sargis, E. J. (2001). ''A preliminary qualitative analysis of the axial skeleton of tupaiids (Mammalia, Scandentia): functional morphology and phylogenetic implications''. Journal of Zoology 253(4): 473–483. Large treeshrews are most abundant in primary

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

, but are also found in swamp forest and

secondary growth forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. I ...

. ''T. tana'' has many potential predators such as the

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia ...

, and

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a ...

. Large treeshrews contribute to maintenance of their lowland rainforest

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

by dispersing seeds.

Description

''Tupaia tana'' is slightly larger than the

common treeshrew The common treeshrew (''Tupaia glis'') is a small mammal in the treeshrew family Tupaiidae, and is native to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it remains common and displays some adaptability ...

(''T. glis''). The dorsal fur is reddish brown, shading to nearly black at the rear. There is a black stripe running from the neck half to two thirds of the way down the back, until it disappears in the darker posterior fur. The body size measurements of this species are: * Head and body: 165–321 mm * Tail: 130–220 mm * Hind foot: 43–57 mm * Weight: 154-305 g The snout is long: the distance from the center of the eye to the tip of the muzzle is more than 37 mm in adults. ''Tupaia tana'' has sensitive hearing and large eyes that give it acute night vision but poor daylight vision.

Diet

Their diet consists of

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. ...

s and

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s such as centipedes, millipedes and beetle larvae, with some fruit. Less favored arthropods include ants, beetles, spiders, cockroaches and crickets.

Reproduction

The average age of reproductive maturity for both males and females is around one year of age. The female almost always gives birth to two

altricial In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...

young. The fecundity of females is reduced in poor quality territories or during periods of resource scarcity.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q657384 Treeshrews Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Malaysia Mammals of Borneo Mammals described in 1821 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot