In the ante-steppe the forest species proper, such as Pteromys volans and Tamias striatus, disappear, but common squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), weasel and bear are still met with in the forests.
The squirrels of the typical genus Sciurus are unknown in Africa south of the Sahara, but otherwise have a distribution co-extensive with the rest of the family.
Although the English squirrel is a beautiful little animal, it is surpassed by many of the tropical members of the group, and especially by those of the Malay countries, where nearly all the species are brilliantly marked, and many are ornamented The Burmese Red-bellied Squirrel (Sciurus pygerythrus).
One Oriental species (Sciurus caniceps) presents almost the only known instance among mammals of the assumption during the breeding season of a distinctly ornamental coat, corresponding to the breeding plumage of birds.
The well-known Indian palm-squirrel, Funambulus palmarum, typifies an Indo-Malay genus allied to Xerus in skull-characters but with molars more like those of Sciurus.