The rescued Malabar giant squirrel is placed on a twig before its handing over to the Nandankanan Zoo authorities. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, June 20: A Malabar giant squirrel (Ratufa indica), rescued by school-going kids from Maal reserve forest near Ranpur in Nayagarh district on June 10, has finally got a place in Nandankanan Zoological Park.

After spending a month in quarantine, the animal, also known as Nepali Musa, might get an enclosure near the squirrel monkey in the zoo.

Sources said the Malabar giant squirrel would be the only existing animal from its species at the zoo as the earlier one died in 1997. After the death of another Malabar giant squirrel in 1997, the zoo authorities did not find a similar animal.

The Maal reserve forest, in fact, is home to a huge population of the squirrel. On Sunday, environmentalist Prasad Dash of city-based organisation Vasundhara handed over the rescued animal to the authorities of Nandankanan. The animal, which was originally rescued from forest by village kids, was later handed over to Vasundhara’s local field staff Madhab Jena.

“After receiving the animal, the zoo authorities chose to keep the animal under constant observation inside the veterinary enclosure. There, the squirrel would be checked for any possible disease or infection as it was staying in a jungle and later was rescued by human beings,’’ said assistant conservator of forests Kamal Lochan Purohit.

Nandankanan’s veterinary specialist Sarat Sahu said: “Once the doctors and experts feel that the squirrel is ready to stay in an independent enclosure, it will be transferred.’’

Malabar giant squirrel is listed as an endangered species under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Also known as Indian giant squirrel, it is a large-bodied arboreal and herbivorous animal.

“It prefers to stay on large trees and requires canopy continuity. Though it seems to be able to adapt to disturbed forests with some gaps in canopy, it cannot be found in forests that has regenerated from clear felling. Other than habitat loss, poaching has been identified as a major threat to it,’’ said Dash. The squirrel is also known as Nepali Musa. As the local residents did not harm the animals, the squirrels also had no problem in staying in the reserve forest. However, when the forest department started cutting trees due to “technical reasons and for better forest management” according to their annual working plans, the nearby villagers also joined in the rampant felling, leading to canopy loss and injury to squirrel families. After activists of Vasundhara intervened to spread awareness for conservation of the animal in Maal reserve forest, children of Dimiribadi village rescued a baby squirrel who fell from a tree while playing. The village kids saved the baby squirrel from street dogs, contacted Jena and handed over the animal to him. It later found its way to Nandankanan.