1. INTRODUCTION
The ecological role of an animal in an ecosystem can be revealed by
understanding its diet and feeding behaviour (Bookhout, 1994;
Dell’Agnello et al., 2019). The feeding behaviour might be specific to
the place where an animal lives. It influences all the decisions of the
animal about food resources available along with predator avoidance
strategies (Pyke, 1984; Sih, 1980). Feeding has a considerable impact on
animal fitness through its effect on animal growth, survival, activity
patterns and reproductive ability (Foley & Cork, 1992; D. Raubenheimer
& Simpson, 1997; David Raubenheimer et al., 2015), thus it is an
important aspect of animal conservation. The availability of food in an
area is vital in supporting a minimum viable population for the animal
to thrive (Palmer & Koprowski, 2014). The variation in food
availability by the seasonal fluctuation can challenge the animal to
meet its requirements. Seasonal shift or facultative adjustment in food
material preference gives an animal large dietary breadth and
flexibility to cope with situations of resource scarcity (Dunn et al.,
2010; Masi et al., 2015).
Herbivorous mammals may impact the plant resources near its foraging
sites either negatively or positively and can affect the composition and
structure of plant communities (Olff & Ritchie, 1998; Palmer &
Koprowski, 2014). Small mammalian herbivores, such as rodents, modify
their environment by consuming plant biomass and redistributing
materials across the landscape (Moorhead et al., 2017). In particular,
small mammals can stimulate soil nutrient cycling through the faecal
deposition (Bakker et al., 2004). Tree squirrels (order Rodentia) are
cosmopolitan in distribution on almost every continent except Australia
and Antarctica (Koprowski & Rajamani, 2008; Thorington Jr et al., 2012)
and play key ecosystem services, including seed dispersal and
pollination (Miyaki, 1987; Steele et al., 2005; Zong et al., 2010). The
giant squirrels are tree squirrels and the largest in the world, and
they belong to the genus Ratufa (Thorington & Cifelli, 1989).
The Grizzled Giant Squirrel (hereafter GGS) belongs to the genusRatufa , has three distinct subspecies and India harbour only one,Ratufa macroura dandolena and it is one among the other three
species of the giant squirrels in India (Ellerman, 1961; Johnsingh &
Nameer, 2015; Menon, 2014). This Near Threatened squirrel is primarily
diurnal, but their increased activity has been observed during the early
and late hours of the day (Paulraj, 1991). The GGS shows one of the most
important examples of isolated populations, and the habitat of the
animal is extremely unique and is confined primarily to a narrow stretch
of riparian vegetation along the Pambar and Chinnar rivers and their
major tributaries in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (Ramachandran,
1993), in the southern Western Ghats. In India, Chinnar Wildlife
Sanctuary in Kerala supports the second-big population of GGS. To
protect and improve the conservation measures directed to an animal,
especially a habitat specialist like the GGS, a proper understanding of
the habitat requirement is vital (Mills, 1992). We focused on the
foraging ecology of the GGS, to understand the seasonal variation in
food preference, food composition and feeding technique. The diet and
feeding behaviour of the GGS is not well known so far thus, it would
help in making specific management prescriptions for protecting the
Near-Threatened GGS in one of its prime refugia in India.