Striped sensations

It took one stern summons to the principal's office to realise squirrels shouldn't be kept as pets and certainly not at school.

The furry, russet-coloured squirrel, which I didn't ever name, was a few days old when I found it in my backyard garden. I decided to keep it.

Mother, of course, would never approve. So it had to be kept surreptitiously in a safe place, away from prying glances.

The best place I thought of - my pockets. It accompanied me everywhere, even school.

I dandled it, fed it ... I bottle-fed it in between classes using a sterilised gum bottle with a teat-like nozzle. On the fifth day of the secret arrangement the head girl squealed on me.

I had to give it up.

I bequeathed it temporarily to a friend till I could convince mother. Two days later, her cat killed it.

Later I found squirrels are wild rodents that don't make good pets. Still, the loss made me disconsolate.

"In its original home countries, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and possibly Afghanistan, it (the squirrel) is branded as a vertebrate pest of crops,'' says Dr Mohammad Ali Reza Khan, head of the Dubai Zoo, Public Parks and Horticulture Department, Dubai Municipality.

The Five Striped Squirrel is the most popular species. It is light brown, long and bushy tailed with five pale alternated by four broad and dark brown stripes over the body. It is also popularly known as the Five Striped Palm Squirrel, Five-lined Palm Squirrel or Indian Palm Squirrel.

He says, "It is an active arboreal species, often at home in gardens, stealing food. Basically vegetarian, it occasionally supplements its diet with bird's eggs, insects and their larvae.''