Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal

LANSING - Rose and Oliver can't match the star power of Doppsee the black rhino or Sivaki the Amur tiger.

But the two northern tree shrews – tiny, bushy-tailed mammals that look like a cross between a mouse and a squirrel – are entertaining in their own right, scurrying around their enclosures during daylight hours.

And they are now the parents of two new pups at the Potter Park Zoo.

"A lot of people think they look like the squirrel from the 'Ice Age' movies," said Sarah Pechtel, the zoo's general curator. "They're really cute but very small. I think people maybe don't always seek them out. But it can be a nice surprise when they can see these little mammals that they don’t know anything about. We literally don't have anything like them in the United States."

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The tree shrew babies – a male and a female – were born about a month ago and are now venturing out of the nest on a regular basis. They don't yet have names.

Rose and her babies reside in the Bird, Reptile and Small Mammal Building. Oliver bunks in the Feline and Primate Building. The two adults are kept apart because they breed like, well, mice, Pechtel said.

Northern tree shrews are highly territorial and have sharp teeth and claws. At about 2 months old, the male baby will be moved to his own quarters elsewhere in the zoo, Pechtel said. The female will stay with her mother for six or seven months. After that, she'll be moved, too.

Northern tree shrews are native to southeast Asia and usually inhabit tropical rainforests. They eat mostly insects and fruit. The species has the highest brain-to-body mass ratio of any animal, including humans.

The species is unusual in another way: In the wild, mothers nurse their young only once every other day because the milk is extremely rich. At two minutes per nursing session, babies get a total of about 60 minutes of parenting time before they are weaned, said zookeeper Melissa Lincoln, who has worked in the bird and reptile house for 14 years.

Oliver has been at the zoo since 2011, Rose since 2013, Pechtel said. The couple produced a litter of three babies in 2014, which stayed at Potter Park for a couple of years before being moved to other zoos.

Northern tree shrews are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan. About 28 of them are kept at AZA institutions.

While the zoo's tree shrew population is up, its red panda population is about to get smaller.

Red panda cubs Pabu and Roji, born last July to parents Maliha and Rupert Jr., will soon move to the Capron Zoo in Attleboro, Massachusetts, zoo officials said. The cubs have been popular among the zoo's staff and patrons, the officials said.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.