Week 15
Discussion
From artwork by Kanō Tan'yū (1602 – 1674). See discussion.
About Flying Squirrels
Everyone is familiar with flying animals like most birds and many insect species. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. All fly with muscle-powered wings. This ability has been around for millions of years. Some dinosaur species appeared to be able to fly. Pterodactyls were reptiles, not dinosaurs, but they had real wings, too, made of a membrane of skin.
An amazing variety of other animals can "fly" in the sense that they have the ability to glide once they have managed to launch themselves into the air. They are supported by flattened parts of their body, membranes or limbs. Here are just a few.
Some mammals can glide, too, though not very many. Among them are relatives of lemurs, some marsupials, and miscellaneous others. The most famous "flying" mammals are flying squirrels.
Flying Squirrels
There are around 285 squirrel species (Sciuridae) around the world; both tree squirrels and ground squirrels. Among them are the so called flying squirrels (Pteromyini) in a separate tribe consisting of 45 species. All flying squirrels are tree dwellers. Most flying squirrels can be found in Asia, but some species exist in Europe, and North America, too. This photo is of one of North America's two flying squirrel species.
The furry membrane made of loose skin that allows squirrels to glide is called the patagium. The patagium is attached at the wrists and ankles of the animal, allowing for a relatively large supporting surface when the fore and aft legs are spread apart as shown above. The fluffy tail acts like a rudder. Some species can soar more than 160 yards when conditions are right.
Here is another view. It looks a little like a flying superhero with its forelegs spread out like that.
Flying squirrels are mostly active at night. An adaptation that is useful for successful night "flying" is unusually large eyes.
I haven't been able to find out how many squirrel species call Japan home, but three are foreign imports that have become established in the wild and are causing ecological damage. Eradication efforts are underway.
There are two species of flying squirrels in Japan, one of which has three subspecies.
Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista leucogenys)
The Japanese name for this squirrel is musasabi. They live in forests on the main islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū. It is the one that has three subspecies.
The adult musasabi has a body length that ranges from roughly10 inches to nearly 20. The tail adds an additional 12 to 16 inches. They weigh from 1.5 to 3.3 lbs. Its favorite foods are fruits and nuts, though there are a variety of other foods they eat, too, including the bark of some trees. That sometimes makes them seriously destructive to certain orchards, and farmers seek to remove them. Musasabi prefer to dwell in holes in trees, but if holes are scarce, they sometimes build nests on branches.
Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel (Pteromys momonga)
Japan's other flying squirrel is called momonga in Japanese. Momonga is this week's painting subject.
Momonga are very small with bodies ranging from 5.5 to 7.8 inches in length and the tail adding another 3.9 to 5.5 inches. They weigh in at a third to half a pound. Largely because of their size momonga are considered to be very cute.
Momonga can "fly" over 320 feet.
And again.
They are small enough that they are hard to spot. Keeping almost exclusively to nighttime activity also helps them hide. Because of this, the number of momonga is hard to estimate. They are not considered to be endangered, however.
They like holes in trees and will sometimes live in groups.
Their range is about the same as musasabi, their giant cousin, and their diets are similar, too, though momonga sometimes eat insects. Unlike musasabi, momonga aren't threatening to farmers.
Artwork
Kanō Tan'yū (1602 – 1674)
Tan'yū was one of the greatest of the Kanō school masters. In 1617, Tokugawa Hidetada appointed Tan'yu to be the first of that shōgunate's official painters. He painted in several styles, but is perhaps best known for his paintings of natural subjects like this 1650 squirrel on a bamboo branch. It appears to have been mounted on a hanging scroll.
Kanō Osanobu (1796-1846)
There were many prominent artists in the Kanō school over the centuries. Osanobu doesn't appear to be one of them. Regardless, his Squirrels on Bamboo and Rock hanging scroll (19th century) is not bad.
Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831 – 1889)
Kyōsai was among the last of the Edo Period (1603 - 1868) ukiyo-e artists. His career spanned the end of that era and continued well into the modern era. He became known as a caricaturist, and got into trouble more than once for artwork that one side or the other found offensive. The fact that he did brush paintings, too, is shown by his Squirrels Gathering Chestnuts hanging scroll, painted on silk in 1887.
Unknown Artist
Normally I would not show a painting here by an unknown artist, but in this case, the 18th or 19th century painting of Grapevine and Squirrels was too tempting to resist for someone who used to play "Where's Waldo" with our son. Squirrels implies more than one squirrel, but I was only able to find one. How many can you find?
