A DEAD juvenile squirrel found at the bottom of a garden in Selsley by an eight-year-old boy stumped top scientists.

Sakoto Okada, whose son Kai Okada-Thomas found the animal on Thursday, initially thought the animal was a monkey or a meerkat.

The SNJ sent photos to Bristol Zoo, where staff said it was not a meerkat but could be a primate.

Meanwhile, researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University were baffled when they saw the photos.

However, when Stroud based primate expert Ian Redmond looked at the body he quickly identified it as a young squirrel.

"We were initially stumped but after looking at the body I can say for sure it was a squirrel," he said.

"I can see how the woman thought it was a monkey because it does not have long hairs on its tail like a squirrel but it could not be a primate because it has claws instead of fingernails."