Hairy-footed flying squirrel
Appearance
Hairy-footed flying squirrel Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent
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Genus: | Belomys Thomas, 1908
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Species: | B. pearsonii
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Binomial name | |
Belomys pearsonii Gray, 1842
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The hairy-footed flying squirrel (Belomys pearsonii) is a flying squirrel found in the mountains of the eastern Himalaya, Southeast Asia, and southern China till the island of Taiwan. It lives at altitudes between 1500 and 2400 m above sea level.
The fur is red-brown on the top and white at the bottom. Characteristic are the long hair at the feet, which even covers the claws to protect against the cold in the higher altitudes. The body has a length of about 22 cm; the tail is another 13 cm long.
As it is closely related to the complex-toothed flying squirrel, some taxonomists add the species to the genus Trogopterus.