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Vernacular Name GLIDER, SUGAR (Aka: Sugar Squirrel, Lesser Flying Squirrel, Short-Headed Or Lesser Flying Phalanger, Lesser Glider, Wrist-Winged Glider)

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Vernacular Name GLIDER, SUGAR (Aka: Sugar Squirrel, Lesser Flying Squirrel, Short-Headed Or Lesser Flying Phalanger, Lesser Glider, Wrist-Winged Glider) 1/4 Vernacular Name GLIDER, SUGAR (aka: sugar squirrel, lesser flying squirrel, short-headed or lesser flying phalanger, lesser glider, wrist-winged glider) GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Eastern Australia, Moluccas, New Guinea and nearby islands HABITAT Wooded areas, preferably open forest. Forests of all types, provided there are enough trees for nesting. CONSERVATION STATUS IUCN: Least Concern (2016). COOL FACTS Sugar gliders can glide for at least 160'. They are accomplished acrobats that weave and maneuver gracefully between trees, landing with precision by swooping upwards. By skillfully adjusting their vertical and lateral angles of attack and twisting their gliding membranes in mid-air, Sugar gliders are able to take advantage of aerodynamic forces. Their tails are also used for carrying nest material. Hanging from branches by their hind feet, the animals break off leaves with their forefeet, pass the leaves from the forefeet to the hind feet to the tail which then coils around the nest material. Used this way, the tail cannot be used in gliding, so the animal transports the leaves by running along the tree branches to the nest They can tolerate wide ranges of temperatures by (1) huddling with others in their leafy nests to help save energy and (2) falling into dormancy and torpor (brief hibernation). They will also fall into torpor during long periods of food scarcity. They bite holes in a tree's bark to get the sweet sap. Since they can make sufficiently large holes to satisfy the carbohydrate requirements of a large group for a whole year, it is sufficient to defend a single tree. Such sap feeding sites are highly prized and may be vigorously defended by chasing and biting intruders. Glider, Sugar 2/4 DIET In wild: omnivorous. Wattle gum is a principal food. Tree sap, blossoms, nectar, insects and their larvae, arachnids and small vertebrates. In zoo: fruit and vegetable mix, commercial marmoset feed, biscuits, mealworms, crickets; also ground beef, pink mice. MEDIAN LIFE EXPECTANCY Male: unknown. Female: unknown. ENEMIES - DEFENSE Enemies: owls, snakes, monitor lizards, cats, kookaburras. Defense: - 1 or 2 dominant, usually older, males are in charge of defense, aggression against intruders and territorial maintenance. They are not timid. - a complex system of scent marking is used for identification and territory. - their long glides may also help the animal to avoid predators. MATING - CARE OF THE YOUNG Breeding: usually begins in June or July. Being marsupials, females have well-developed pouches during breeding. All adult females in a group reproduce. Estrous cycle: averages 29 days. Polyestrous. Females may produce a 2 nd litter in the breeding season if the 1st is lost or weaned. Gestation: about 16 days. Litter: usually 1-2 offspring, sometimes 3. The miniscule marsupial newborns weigh less than 1/100 th oz. They crawl, unassisted, to their mother's pouch. They first release the nipple at 40 days. Parental Care: 1 or 2 dominant, usually older, males father the young. The young leave the pouch when around 70 days old, but stay in a group nest for a further 40-50 days. The young begin to leave the nest between 110-120 days to forage, usually with their mother. Weaning: between 7-10 months old, most young are independent. Sexual Maturity: females, late in the 1 st year at 8-15 months; males, early in the 2 nd year. SOCIAL INTERACTION Sugar gliders are somewhat social, nesting in groups of up to 7-12 adult males and females and their young. All members of a group are related and descended from an original colonizing pair. Groups appear mutually exclusive, territorial and combative towards one another. Communication, Auditory. They produce a range of calls: - alarm calls resemble the yapping of a small dog. - anger is sounded by high-pitched cries or coarse rasping sounds. - sharp, threatening screams are occasionally heard when fighting. - animals disturbed in their nest utter defiant gurgling chatter. Glider, Sugar 3/4 Communication, Olfactory: - a complex communication system, based on scents, is produced from distinctive and well developed scent-marking glands on the forehead and chest, in the anal region, on the surfaces of the hands and feet, at the corners of the mouth and on the inside surfaces of the external ears, and in the pouch in females. - each animal of a group has its own characteristic smell. - also, a dominant male actively marks the other group members with the scent from his forehead and chest glands. This allows for mutual recognition by members of the group. - when a non-group animal is detected because it does not carry the group scent, it is subjected to immediate, violent attack. (Within a group there is no fighting beyond threatening behavior and slapping with the forepaw.) - the adult group males regularly mark their territory limits and their most important paths with their saliva and with the secretions of their anal, hand and foot scent glands. LIFE STYLE Activity Period: nocturnal. Feeding: - sugar gliders are specialist plant exudate (sap and gum) feeders. - they may travel hundreds of feet across open pastures to obtain wattle gum. - they have been observed to leap and catch moths and other insects in flight. Locomotion: they are specialized for rapid movement in the open forests. Good gliding abilities. Outstanding steering abilities. - the purpose of the gliding membrane is to convert the body into an airfoil so that it moves on a "cushion of air." This allows travel at the greatest possible horizontal distance with a minimal loss of altitude. A similar principle is involved in ski jumping or hang-gliding. - thrust by its hind legs, a sugar glider leaps from a tall tree and extends its 4 legs straight out, causing the gliding membrane to spread open. The animal then glides through the air in a shallow arc, steering and maintaining stability by varying the curvature of the right or left membrane. When about 9' from a target tree, it brings its hind legs in towards its body and, with an upward swoop, lands with its 4 feet in contact with the bark, folding in the membrane immediately upon landing. The whole process occurs incredibly quickly. Arboreal. Shelter by day in a leaf nest in tree hollows. Extremely active. PHYSICAL Size: head and body length, 4.6"-12.6”; tail, 5.9"-18.9”. Sexual Dimorphism (size): Weight: 2.8-5.6 oz. Males, usually 4-5.6 oz.; females, usually 2.8- 4.8 oz. Pelage: fur is fine and silky. Color. Upper Parts: generally blue-gray to brown-gray. Under Parts: paler, cream to pale gray. A dark, longitudinal, mid-dorsal stripe runs from the nose to the rump. Face: there are stripes on each side of face from the nose, through the eye to the ear. Tail: gray to black, sometimes tipped with white. A thin gliding membrane is attached to the body's outer sides between the foreleg's wrist and the hind legs' ankles. Upper surface is covered with a normal amount of hair; under surface has somewhat less hair. The membrane remains barely noticeable, hidden in the animals' flanks when not in use, like the folded ruffles of a curtain. Glider, Sugar 4/4 Dentition: the 2 middle incisors in the lower jaw, greatly enlarged and projected forward, are the only pair of functional incisors in the lower jaw (diprotodontia). Digits: the relatively small 2nd and 3rd toes of the hind foot are joined together, except for the claws (syndactyly). TAXONOMY Phylum / Subphylum Chordata / Vertebrata Class Mammalia Order Diprotodontia Family Petauridae Genus / species Petaurus breviceps REFERENCES - Kleiman, Debra G., Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade (eds): 2004. Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia . Vol. 13; Bandicoots to Vespertilionid Bats. Farmington Hill, MI: The Gale Group. - Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker’s Mammals of the World . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. - Petaurus breviceps : Pasatta, J. 1999. " Petaurus breviceps " (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed August 17, 2010 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Petaurus_breviceps.html. - Petaurus breviceps : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Glider - The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 6 July 2016. Prepared by: Dave Schaffer, docent Date: 08-20-10 Photo by: John Bernard, docent Map by: Dave Schaffer - Bob Sloane, docents Approved by: Date: Reformatted by: Dave Schaffer, docent Date: 07-02-12 .
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