These fluffy creatures are rumored to drink blood

Sep 4, 2015 16:57 GMT  ·  By

Rheithrosciurus macrotis, otherwise known as the tufted ground squirrel, populates forests on the island of Borneo. It enjoys a solitary existence and prefers to keep to itself, which is why wildlife researchers don't really know all that much about it. 

What they do know is that, of all mammals, it has the absolute fluffiest tail. Oh, and that, according to local folklore, it takes great pleasure in attacking deer and drinking their blood, kind of like a cute and cuddly chupacabra.

The species was recently caught on film for the first time ever

For many years, all wildlife researchers studying this elusive species had to go on were occasional sightings and a few photographs. But not anymore.

Recently, an infrared camera set up in the Gunung Palung National Park in the Indonesian part of Borneo captured one such mysterious creature going about its business foraging through leaves on the ground.

Although a total of 35 motion-triggered infrared cameras were set up in the Gunung Palung National Park, just this one obtained footage of the rare fluffy squirrel.

Then again, seeing how this video is the first ever showing a tufted ground squirrel in its natural habitat, wildlife researchers are quite psyched about it, more so since the footage took them by surprise.

“I was sitting at the bar in Jakarta waiting to come home, looking through the pictures, and this popped up,” University of Michigan researcher Andrew Marshall told the journal Science in an interview.

Now, Andrew Marshall and colleagues hope to obtain more footage of the elusive species. This would help them better understand its routine.

What's this about the cute-looking squirrel being a vampire?

Although tufted ground squirrels are merely 35 centimeters (14 inches) long, with their tail being about 30% larger than their body, local stories say they don't shy away from attacking deer.

Apparently, they pounce on their unsuspecting victims from high up in trees, bite their necks and then drink their blood. Some say they even disembowel the unlucky herbivores.

Wildlife researchers seriously doubt the fluffy creatures do in fact double as vampires. Rather, they say that evidence so far suggests that the one thing they love to eat is nuts of the canarium tree.