The species occurs in a wide range of wooded habitats, including gardens and parks in cities like Bangkok.

The study also revealed that the mitochondrial DNA of this species compared to the closely related Pallas's squirrel is not monophyletic.

[8] A subsequent study recommended that, to maintain monophyletic species, flavimanus and griseimanus, which traditionally are recognized as being subspecies of Pallas's squirrel in southeastern Indochina (central and southern Vietnam, adjacent parts of Cambodia and southern Laos), should be considered part of Finlayson's squirrel.

The study also found that flavimanus, as traditionally defined, actually consists of at least two clearly separate lineages, both part of Finlayson's squirrel.

[12] Field evidence suggests that it has the usual form of dichromatic mammalian color vision, which may enable it to discriminate ripe from unripe fruits.