Editing Treeshrew (section)

==Diet==
Treeshrews are [[omnivore|omnivorous]], feeding on insects, small vertebrates, fruit, and seeds. Among other things, treeshrews eat ''[[Rafflesia]]'' fruit.

The pen-tailed treeshrew in Malaysia is able to consume large amounts of naturally fermented nectar from flower buds of the bertam palm ''[[Eugeissona tristis]]'' (with up to 3.8% alcohol content) the entire year without it having any effects on behaviour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25908012/#.Vu6u9RXD_VI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315184721/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25908012/#.Vu6u9RXD_VI |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 15, 2014 |author-last=Moscowicz |author-first=Clara |year=2008 |title=Tiny tree shrew can drink you under the table |website=[[NBC News]] |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| author=Wiens F, Zitzmann A, Lachance MA, Yegles M, Pragst F, Wurst FM | display-authors=etal| title=Chronic intake of fermented floral nectar by wild treeshrews. | journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | year= 2008 | volume= 105 | issue= 30 | pages= 10426–31 | pmid=18663222 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0801628105 | pmc=2492458| bibcode=2008PNAS..10510426W| doi-access=free}} </ref>

Treeshrews have also been observed intentionally eating foods high in [[capsaicin]], a behavior unique among mammals other than humans.  A single [[TRPV1]] [[mutation]] reduces their pain response to capsaicinoids, which scientists believe is an [[adaptation|evolutionary adaptation]] to be able to consume spicy foods in their natural habitats.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/animals/2018/07/tree-shrews-pain-chili-peppers-news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827075257/https://relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/animals/2018/07/tree-shrews-pain-chili-peppers-news |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 27, 2018 |title=See Why Tree Shrews Are Only the Second Known Mammal to Seek Spicy Food |website=nationalgeographic.com |language=en |access-date=2018-08-26}}</ref>
 
Pitcher plants like the ''[[Nepenthes lowii]]'', supplements its carnivorous diet with tree shrew droppings.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Clarke CM, Bauer U, Lee CC, Tuen AA, Rembold K, Moran JA | title = Tree shrew lavatories: a novel nitrogen sequestration strategy in a tropical pitcher plant | journal = Biology Letters | volume = 5 | issue = 5 | pages = 632–5 | date = October 2009 | pmid = 19515656 | pmc = 2781956 | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0311 }}</ref><ref name="Chin-2010">{{cite journal | vauthors = Chin L, Moran JA, Clarke C | title = Trap geometry in three giant montane pitcher plant species from Borneo is a function of tree shrew body size | journal = The New Phytologist | volume = 186 | issue = 2 | pages = 461–70 | date = April 2010 | pmid = 20100203 | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03166.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Clarke C, Moran JA, Chin L | title = Mutualism between tree shrews and pitcher plants: perspectives and avenues for future research | journal = Plant Signaling & Behavior | volume = 5 | issue = 10 | pages = 1187–9 | date = October 2010 | pmid = 20861680 | pmc = 3115346 | doi = 10.4161/psb.5.10.12807 }}</ref>

[[File:Murud N. lowii 20.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|An upper pitcher of ''[[Nepenthes lowii]]'' ]]
[[File:The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B., F.R.A.S., F.G.S., during the years 1843-1846 (8338415184).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Pen-tailed treeshrew]] (1850 depiction of ''Ptilocercus lowii'')]]