Crop raiding and management of Funambulus palmarum in cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) plantations of Western Ghats of Karnataka, south India

Funambulus palmarum has evolved crop-raiding habits to exploit food resources in agricultural ecosystems like cardamom plantations in the Western Ghats, southern India. Gut content analyses reveal that these squirrels principally feed on cardamom during its fruiting period. They prefer old, yellow, mature capsules emanating the typical cardamom odour. At other times of the year, the squirrels consume termites, ants, ground beetles, bugs, soil insects, other arthropods, flower buds, fruits and seeds of wild plants, including weeds. The timely picking of cardamom capsules, clean cultivation, overlapping panicles, mulching (for small areas, usually <0.25 ha) and trapping substantially reduced feeding damage by squirrels. Integrated efforts are needed to protect crops like cardamom while sustaining ecologically important rodents like squirrels.