The following clip shows the Indian palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum) in parkland in the town of Kalba, on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates. I first saw these animals in October 2016 and have since seen them at various locations along the coast up to 15km north in Madab, Fujairah.
Native to southern India and Sri Lanka, this palm squirrel has also been introduced to Madagascar, Réunion, Mayotte, Comoro Islands, Mauritius, Seychelles and Australia. As with the places mentioned above, it appears that this species was introduced as an exotic pet, though this has probably happened here relatively recently due to the current lack of documentation. The numbers of palm squirrels I have seen in this region seem to indicate that there is a wild population of palm squirrels living here with some degree of stability, rather than these just being a couple of recently released individuals.
