SPECIAL MENTION, VIVEK KALE
The highest canopies of Bhimashankar are famously occupied by Maharashtra’s state animal, the Indian giant squirrel, known locally as shekru. This rust-coloured squirrel is capable of leaping five or six metres across the branches of its canopy forests, using its tail as a balancing rudder. The squirrel rarely descends to the ground and is therefore dependent on closed crowned forests for its survival.
