Bangs's Mountain Squirrel (Syntheosciurus brochus) is a nearly unknown species of tree squirrel, that only lives in Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

 and Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

. It can be found in mountain rain forests at an altitude between 1900 and 2600 meters, and lives mainly in the tree tops, but sometimes on the forest floor as well. One of its habitats is at the summit of the Poás Volcano

Poás Volcano

The Poás Volcano, in Spanish Volcán Poás, is an active stratovolcano in central Costa Rica. Poás has erupted 39 times since 1828.- Crater lakes :...

 in Costa Rica, in a Clusia

Clusia

Clusia is the type genus of the family Clusiaceae. Comprising 140-150 species, it is native to tropical and subtropical America. Its species are shrubs, vines and small to medium-size trees up to 20 m tall, with evergreen foliage...

 forest that is almost inaccessible for humans.

Description

The squirrel's head and body measure 15 centimeters, with a 13 cm tail. It has an olive brown back and an orange-red belly. Because of the shape of its skull and teeth, the species has been separated from the genus of typical tree squirrels, Sciurus

Sciurus

The genus Sciurus contains most of the common, bushy-tailed squirrels in North America, Europe, temperate Asia, Central America and South America.-Species:There are 30 species.Genus Sciurus - Tree squirrels*Subgenus Sciurus...

, into its own (monotypical) genus Syntheosciurus.

Recent discovery

Until the 1980s, only four animals of this species were known. Since then, the species has been studied more in depth, especially by the zoologists Wells and Giacalone. It has been discovered that these mountain squirrels are sociable creatures. A pair of squirrels live in a tree nest together with their young at a height of 6 to 12 meters.