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Five-striped palm squirrel: the gilahari of north Indian towns
गिलहरी
The five-striped or northern palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii), gilahari in Hindi, is the small striped squirrel of north Indian towns: on garden walls, power lines, temple courtyards and ghat parapets, from Delhi and Kolkata to the lake towns of Rajasthan. It is common, adaptable and not threatened, and a popular legend explains how it got its stripes.
A small grey-brown squirrel with pale stripes down its back, running along walls, wires and tree trunks in towns. This is the northern Indian species; a very similar three-striped squirrel takes over in the south.
👀 How to recognise it
Pale stripes along the back, a long flat-brushed tail carried up while it runs, and a sharp repeated «chik-chik» scold with a flick of the tail on every note.
Where to see it
Vrindavan
The story that the stripes are Rama's finger marks, left when he stroked a squirrel that helped carry sand for the bridge to Lanka, is told of palm squirrels all over India. In Vrindavan the squirrels live in temple courtyards and take crumbs of prasad (the food offered in the shrine and then shared out).
Keshi Ghat · Vrindavan Parikrama Marg · Gahvar Van
Ajmer
A story told across northern India says the stripes are the marks of Rama's fingers, left when he stroked a squirrel that had carried sand to help build the bridge to Lanka.
Daulat Bagh (Subhash Udyan) · Ana Sagar Lake
Kolkata
The stripes are explained as the mark of Rama's fingers, stroking the squirrel that carried pebbles to help build the bridge to Lanka.
The Maidan · Agri-Horticultural Society Garden · Rabindra Sarobar
Pushkar
In a story told across northern India the stripes are the marks of Rama's fingers, left when he stroked a squirrel that had carried sand to help build the bridge to Lanka. The tale explains why nobody shoos them off a temple wall.
Pushkar Lake · Budha Pushkar Lake (Old Pushkar)
Five stripes or three?
India has two look-alike palm squirrels. The five-striped one, with five pale stripes along a grey-brown back, is the northern species. In the south the very similar three-striped Indian palm squirrel takes over. Where exactly one gives way to the other is still not clearly mapped: on the western side the five-striped squirrel has been recorded as far south as Dharwad and Mysuru in Karnataka, and recent records hint it may reach Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh.
So in Delhi, Vrindavan or Pushkar the squirrel on the wall is the five-striped one; in the far south it is the three-striped one. Count the pale stripes when it pauses.
Where it lives
Its range covers northern and central India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iran, and it lives in almost any habitat with trees or walls: dry deciduous and mountain forest up to about 4,000 m, scrub, plantations, farmland, village gardens and city centres, including Delhi and Kolkata. It was introduced to the Nicobar Islands, and zoo escapees founded a small population around Perth in Australia. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern, with no particular threats identified. It is not listed in any schedule of the Wild Life (Protection) Act as amended in 2022; of the palm squirrels, only the jungle palm squirrel (Funambulus tristriatus) is, in Schedule II.
Where you will see it
The squirrel is active by day all year round. In Vrindavan it runs the parapets above Keshi Ghat, the wall and roadside trees along the Parikrama Marg and the grove of Gahvar Van. In Pushkar it lives on the ghat walls around the lake, in Ajmer in the Daulat Bagh garden and along the Ana Sagar promenade, and in Kolkata on the Maidan and around Rabindra Sarobar.
The giveaway is usually the sound: a sharp, repeated “chik-chik” with the tail flicking on every note.
Why it has stripes: the Rama story
A popular legend explains the stripes. When Rama's army was building the bridge to Lanka, a small squirrel helped by rolling in the sand and shaking it off at the end of the bridge. Rama, pleased, stroked its back, and the marks of his fingers stayed on it ever since; the story is mostly told of palm squirrels in general. Because of this link with Rama, many Hindu families feed squirrels. In Vrindavan they live in the temple courtyards and pick up crumbs of prasad (food offered in the shrine and then shared out).
❓ FAQ
What is the five-striped palm squirrel called in Hindi?
Gilahari (गिलहरी), the ordinary Hindi word for squirrel.
How do I tell it from the three-striped palm squirrel?
Count the pale stripes on the back: five in this species, three in the Indian palm squirrel. Geography helps too: north India has the five-striped one, the far south the three-striped.
Is the five-striped palm squirrel endangered?
No. It is common across a wide range, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
Is the five-striped palm squirrel protected by law in India?
It is not listed in any schedule of the Wild Life (Protection) Act as amended in 2022. Among palm squirrels only the jungle palm squirrel is, in Schedule II.
Why does the squirrel have stripes, according to the legend?
In a popular legend, Rama stroked a squirrel that had helped build the bridge to Lanka, and his finger marks stayed on its back as stripes.