The Ridiculously Cute Squirrels of the Taj Mahal

There are a lot of rules about what you can and can't do and bring in to the Taj Mahal, but nature won't be governed. While there, I saw a cat (a surprisingly rare sight in Agra, compared to Mumbai - but maybe I just wasn't there long enough), a dog, several pink-bummed monkeys and hundreds of these tiny, pretty squirrels.

The cat walked in through the queue, tail in the air, then scurried off into a bush, perhaps in case she was judged a security threat. She was so quick that I am not sure my tour group quite believed I'd seen her. Was she a history lover - perhaps a dedicated visitor every morning, to see the sunrise over the monument? One might be inclined to assume baser motivations, but it's impossible that she was there to be fed by soft-hearted tourists, because visitors are not allowed to bring food. (It's actually just occurred to me that she was probably there to dine out on squirrels, so let's leave that one there.)

The dog was just there, weaving through the crowd, later on in the morning, and the monkeys were decidedly unfriendly. (Imagine being a monkey living at the Taj Mahal, though. It would give you a certain level of arrogance, both over your fellow monkeys and the stupid humans who need tickets.) The first moment I realised they were there was when a bunch of them made a sudden collective angry whooping noise and ran past me, presumably just for show.

The squirrels, on the other hand, were everywhere, delighted and delightful. They were running up trees, posing on the way back down as if to show off their gravity-defying abilities, balancing on rocks and observing visitors from behind grassy shields. Most of them had a strict 1m social distancing rule in place, which pleased my mother, who is difficult to convince that every single wild animal doesn't have rabies.

On the way out, however, one man had worked out a clever money-making ruse. He had trained a squirrel (or maybe not, maybe it was just a very confident and clever squirrel) to sit on the hands of happy tourists as long as they had food there. This seemed to be a win-win deal for everyone involved. Model Squirrel had an endless supply of munchies, Squirrel Man was raking it in (I don't remember how much he was charging, but it was at least several hundred rupees, which is a pretty good rate for a one-minute job, and Model Squirrel's commission didn't look expensive) and I got a cute photo of a squirrel posing in my hands, so congratulations to me.

Have you ever seen a more charming squirrel? Look again - you haven't. Interestingly, the squirrels all look basically identical. They are obviously aware that they have evolved the Ideal Face and careful to keep it that way.

I looked them up this morning, and it would seem likely (to my untrained eye) that they are Northern or Five-Striped Palm Squirrels. Happily, their conservation status is 'least concern'; they have an important role to play in driving up the average cuteness of the planet's inhabitants. Keep it up, squirrels!

They are easy to spot at every tourist site in Agra, to the best of my recollection, and I am pretty sure I saw some in Jaipur too, but don't hold me to it.

Have fun squirrel-spotting if you go there!

I hope this little squirrel gave you even some of the joy it gave me! Let me know in the comments.

For more stories inspired by my Indian adventures, check out the following: