The Common Treeshrew is a small, agile, squirrel-sized mammal from Southeast Asia, known for its reddish-brown fur, long bushy tail, and active daytime foraging on the forest floor for insects, fruits, and seeds, often near human areas, despite being adaptable to habitat loss.

It is omnivorous, eating insects, fruits, seeds, and sometimes small lizards and known to raid birds nests for their eggs.
They are diurnal (active during the day), terrestrial (forest floor) but also climbs, territorial with scent marking, and lives alone or in pairs, but rarely in a scurry (group) like the Plantain squirrels.

The common tree shrew is neither a squirrel nor a true shrew, but a unique small mammal in its own order, Scandentia, with its closest living relatives being primates.

The key difference between the Common Tree Shrew and the Plantain Squirrel is facial structure and tail bushiness: Common Treeshrews have a distinct, long, pointed snout, brown fur, and are often on the ground or lower trees, while Plantain Squirrels have a rounder face, a much bushier tail, distinctive black/white/orange stripes, and are more arboreal, but both are common in forest, secondary growth and sub-urban habitat of Southeast Asia including West Malaysia.

The genus name Tupaia is derived directly from the Malay word tupai (squirrel) however, as explained above, it is not actually a squirrel as such. But the “tupai” remains as the common name in the Malay language.

As it is more of an aboreal mammal compared to the Plantain Squirrel it is not common at the Teluk Air Tawar – Kuala Muda IBA, as some parts of the mangroves will be wet and moist during normal tide conditions and will be flooded during spring tide.