Perth Zoo used to have a population of Indian Palm Squirrels living in the zoo that rarely were seen outside the zoo. This was generally accepted to be due to domestic cats.
Perth Zoo used to have a population of Indian Palm Squirrels living in the zoo that rarely were seen outside the zoo. This was generally accepted to be due to domestic cats.
I can't find any references for them being anywhere outside the zoo, but most articles on them are in German or Czech or other languages I cannot read. I did find a taxonomic review of Palaearctic sciurids which said they have been there for about 50 years though (which would take it back to the late 1960s/early 1970s). Until recently they were assumed to be Siberian Chipmunks.
while browsing I found the origin of these chipmunks. In 1963 the zoo obtained eight chipmunks from the Biological Station Wilhelminenberg in Vienna, and released them in the zoo grounds.
From the zoo's website: www.zoo-wuppertal.net - Streifenbackenhörnchen
![Eastern chipmunk [free-roaming]](/media/eastern-chipmunk-free-roaming.306637/full?d=1443204630)
![Eastern chipmunk [free-roaming]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/306/306637-b7d1cf6e03c6335a955f2966d15456ee.jpg?1765329799)
