Sugar Glider
Sugar Glider: Petaurus breviceps
Sugar Gliders
A social creature living in the trees of tropical Australia and surrounding islands, the sugar glider, as the name would imply, is capable of "gliding" great distances by opening a flap of skin located between the front and back legs. Once the sugar glider leaps from a branch the flap allows controlled decent and even some horizontal travel. The little creature is usually gliding to an adjacent tree. Fond of sweet fruit and nectar, the sugar glider is most often seen chewing away at the bark of certain tree species to obtain the nectar found behind the bark.
This animal is actually one of the smallest marsupials on the planet!! Baby sugar gliders are born after a very short gestation and make their way to the mothers pouch in a fashion very similar to kangaroos!
Their numbers in the wild appear to be stable in most parts of their range.
Range: Australia & Tasmania
Natural Diet: Insects & Nectar, varies widely by season and geographical range.
Diet at Rain Forest: Prepared glider diet with fresh fruits
RainForest Facts: In the wild sugar gliders have been known to glide for up to 150' feet between tree branches. They can actually steer their bodies in flight by using the flap of skin called a patagium. This large flap of skin extends from the 5th toe on the hands, back to the first toe on the rear feet. Sugar gliders are called possums in their native country.
Sugar Gliders as Pets
Size: 3-5 ounces
Status in Wild: Stable
http://www.rfadventures.com/mammals.htm
Sugar Glider: Petaurus breviceps
Hello, welcome to Articles! Today we will be talking about Sugar gliders.
Sugar Gliders are part of the Mammalian classification. Their scientific name is ~ Petaurus breviceps.
ANATOMY:
Sugar gliders can range in size from 5-6 inches and they weigh about 4-6 ounces. They are grey with a white tummy and a black stripe down their back. They have beautiful round black eyes.
HABITAT:
In captivity their habitat should have the following......tree branches, pouches (for sleeping in),climbing toys, a wheel, and a reasonably large cage.
In the wild, Sugar gliders are tree dwellers.
RANGE: (where they come from)
Sugar gliders come from the tropical rain forest of North Queensland Australia. They can also be found in Tasmania, New Guinea, and the neighboring islands of Indonesia.
ENEMIES:
Some predators that may prey on Sugar gliders are Owls, Cats, and Snakes.
LIFE CYCLE:
They can live in captivity for 10-15 years. In the wild though, they usually live about 4-6 years. The gestation period (how long they are pregnant) is 16 days and the babies live in their mothers pouch for about 10 weeks before coming out.
DIET:
Sugar gliders are Omnivores. They like to eat a wide variety of foods. Some of their favorites are ~ meal worms, fruit, honey dew and carrots.
FUN FACTS :)
1.These marsupials are able to glide up to 148.5 ft. and are able to to leap at and catch moths in flight.
2.Sugar gliders live in large colonies (20-40 individuals) with two alpha males fathering the most of the offspring.
3.Young gliders leave the colony around 10 months of age to start their own.
4.Sugar gliders get their name because of the flap between the front leg and the hind leg, making them able to glide.
5.When angry, gliders lean back and make a chattering noise that sounds like a small, dog. If the warning doesn't work, they can strike with force.
6.Males have what looks like a bald spot on their head, which is really a scent gland.
http://www.courtneyscritters.com/sugargliders
- Other common names include the Sugar Squirrel, Lesser Flying Squirrel, Short-headed or Lesser Flying Phalanger, and Lesser Glider.
- Sugar Gliders are marsupials.
- The sugar glider is a fairly small possum (shorter in body length than the average black rat) with a gliding membrane down the side of its body. It is light grey with a dark stripe down the middle of its forehead and along its back. There are also black stripes along the limbs. The tail is well furred and of a more or less uniform thickness, often with a white tip. As with all gliders, the tail is not prehensile - it cannot curl it. Tails are often discarded by owls. (Script: Courtesy of Environmental Protection Agency)
- Blue-grey to brown-grey on dorsal surface, with a dark mid-dorsal stripe from between eyes to mid-back. Cream to Pale-grey underside.
- Tail grey to brown and sometimes tipped with white or black.
- Length: head and body 16-21cm, tail 16.5-21 cm.
- Weight: male 140g, female 120g.
- Blue-grey to brown-grey on dorsal surface, with a dark mid-dorsal stripe from between eyes to mid-back. Cream to Pale-grey underside.
- Their tail tip is white when young and turns grey when the fur gets longer.
- Reach Sexual Maturity at 8 to 16 months of age.
- Sugar gliders often exploit patchy food resources by gliding, as this proves efficient, and also possibly a way to help them avoid predators.
- The gliding membrane is called a patagium.
- They do not use their tails for holding onto branches. They use it like a rudder for flying.
- When leaping from a tree, it spreads out its membranes that extend from the fifth finger to the first toe of the foot on each side of the body, steering and maintaining its stability by varying the curvature of the left or right membrane.
- It brings its hind legs in towards its body when about 3m from a target tree, and with an upward swoop, it lands with its four feet in contact with the bark.
- They can glide up to fifty metres in length.
- Honey mixtures are placed on viewing platforms at Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge each evening for them to feed.
- Viewings can be expected every night in normal weather conditions.
- There are 7 recognised subspecies of sugar gliders, 4 of them in New Guinea.
- They prefer patchy, open forest were it has enough space to glide from tree to tree.
- Density is often highest in open forest habitats in south-eastern Australia where access to acacias is readily available.
- They also often thrive in strips and patches of forest remaining on cleared agricultural land and have therefore not suffered as much as some other possums.
- It is locally common, with up to at least 10 per hectare, in areas where tree hollows are available for shelter and abundant food supplies are present.
- The Sugar Glider nests in tree hollows are usually leaf lined.
- Their nest is notorious because of the foul smell that comes from it. This is because the animal urinates on the leaves in order to keep them down.
- Feed on gum produced by Acacias, and saps of certain Eucalypts.
- They also eat invertebrates, invertebrate discharges and small animals such as baby birds and young mice.
- Live in social groups with up to seven adults and their young sharing one common nest, although in summer these groups often break up.
- Individuals are recognised by their odour as they have well developed scent-marking glands, especially in the males.
- Males have two scent glands. One is the bald spot on the top of his head. The second is a tiny bald spot on his chest. Females have a scent gland in their pouch.
- Sugar gliders make many different sounds.
- Their playful sounds are like a tiny puppy making a half barking sound.
- They make a chattering, growling kind of grumpy sound when they are frightened or upset.
- Babies make a tiny squeak or peep sound to call their mother.
- Have calls of shrill yapping which warns others of danger approaching.
- Also have a sharp scream during fights
- Males give off an odour during breeding, they usually only produce an odour when mating.
- Though breeding can take place at any time of the year, it usually begins in August.
- A male establishes his right to mate with a female by rubbing scent from his forehead onto her chest. The female chooses her partners by rubbing her head on the scent glands of the preferred males' chests.
- After a gestation period of about 16 days a female produces 2 offspring. Dependant on their mother, they are blind and weigh 0.19 of a gram.
- The mother helps her newborn into the pouch where each immediately latches on to one of her four nipples. They develop quickly on her protein-rich milk, they stay inside the pouch for about 70 days.
- They are then deposited in the group nest for a further 30 days. They begin to leave the nest to forage (usually with their mother) at 100-110 days (about 15 weeks) old.
- They are displaced from their maternal groups when they are 7-10 months old. They may then travel across land to reach isolated forest habitats. If an older female in the group dies, another female offspring may be recruited to take her place, but solitary adults from nearby territories usually replace males that die.
- Due to predation by owls, kookaburras, goannas and cats, mortality during the first year of life is high. New groups are therefore rarely formed with time to establish themselves.
- Sugar gliders can live as long as 15 years.
- The Sugar Glider was introduced to Tasmania in 1835.
- Populations of the sugar glider appear to be stable. They can tolerate a wide range of temperatures – in extremely cold conditions, it huddles with others in its leaf lined nest hollow to conserve energy, or becomes torpid (inactive).
- There predators include owls, kookaburras, goannas and cats.
- The younger members of the group are usually evicted before 12 months of age, and subsequently there is a high rate of mortality for young gliders (Egerton 1997).
- As with other gliders, scent and smell are important in social interactions.
- Recent research indicates secretions from the dominant males can suppress reproductive activity in the other males in the group (Egerton 1997).
- http://rainforest-australia.com/sugar_glider.htm
Sugar Gliders
A social creature living in the trees of tropical Australia and surrounding islands, the sugar glider, as the name would imply, is capable of "gliding" great distances by opening a flap of skin located between the front and back legs. Once the sugar glider leaps from a branch the flap allows controlled decent and even some horizontal travel. The little creature is usually gliding to an adjacent tree. Fond of sweet fruit and nectar, the sugar glider is most often seen chewing away at the bark of certain tree species to obtain the nectar found behind the bark.
This animal is actually one of the smallest marsupials on the planet!! Baby sugar gliders are born after a very short gestation and make their way to the mothers pouch in a fashion very similar to kangaroos!
Their numbers in the wild appear to be stable in most parts of their range.
Range: Australia & Tasmania
Natural Diet: Insects & Nectar, varies widely by season and geographical range.
Diet at Rain Forest: Prepared glider diet with fresh fruits
RainForest Facts: In the wild sugar gliders have been known to glide for up to 150' feet between tree branches. They can actually steer their bodies in flight by using the flap of skin called a patagium. This large flap of skin extends from the 5th toe on the hands, back to the first toe on the rear feet. Sugar gliders are called possums in their native country.
Sugar Gliders as Pets
Size: 3-5 ounces
Status in Wild: Stable
http://www.rfadventures.com/mammals.htm
Sugar Glider: Petaurus breviceps
- Blue-grey to brown-grey on dorsal surface, with a dark mid-dorsal stripe from between eyes to midback. Cream to Pale-grey underside.
- Tail grey to black and sometimes tipped with white.
- The Sugar Glider shelters in tree hollows which are usually leaf lined.
- Feed on gum produced by Acacias, saps of certain Eucalypts and invertebrates
- Live in social groups with up to seven adults and their young sharing one common nest.
- Have calls of shrill yapping which warns others of danger approaching. Also have a sharp scream during fights and a gurgling chatter when disturbed.
- The Sugar Glider can volplane up to fifty metres in length. Thrust by its hind legs, it leaps from a tree, spreading the membranes (like wings) which extend from each side of the body from the fifth finger to the first toe. Steering and stability is maintained by curvature of the right and left membrane.
- Honey is placed on the railings in front of the lodges at Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge each evening for them to feed. Viewings can be expected every night in normal weather conditions.
Hello, welcome to Articles! Today we will be talking about Sugar gliders.
Sugar Gliders are part of the Mammalian classification. Their scientific name is ~ Petaurus breviceps.
ANATOMY:
Sugar gliders can range in size from 5-6 inches and they weigh about 4-6 ounces. They are grey with a white tummy and a black stripe down their back. They have beautiful round black eyes.
HABITAT:
In captivity their habitat should have the following......tree branches, pouches (for sleeping in),climbing toys, a wheel, and a reasonably large cage.
In the wild, Sugar gliders are tree dwellers.
RANGE: (where they come from)
Sugar gliders come from the tropical rain forest of North Queensland Australia. They can also be found in Tasmania, New Guinea, and the neighboring islands of Indonesia.
ENEMIES:
Some predators that may prey on Sugar gliders are Owls, Cats, and Snakes.
LIFE CYCLE:
They can live in captivity for 10-15 years. In the wild though, they usually live about 4-6 years. The gestation period (how long they are pregnant) is 16 days and the babies live in their mothers pouch for about 10 weeks before coming out.
DIET:
Sugar gliders are Omnivores. They like to eat a wide variety of foods. Some of their favorites are ~ meal worms, fruit, honey dew and carrots.
FUN FACTS :)
1.These marsupials are able to glide up to 148.5 ft. and are able to to leap at and catch moths in flight.
2.Sugar gliders live in large colonies (20-40 individuals) with two alpha males fathering the most of the offspring.
3.Young gliders leave the colony around 10 months of age to start their own.
4.Sugar gliders get their name because of the flap between the front leg and the hind leg, making them able to glide.
5.When angry, gliders lean back and make a chattering noise that sounds like a small, dog. If the warning doesn't work, they can strike with force.
6.Males have what looks like a bald spot on their head, which is really a scent gland.
http://www.courtneyscritters.com/sugargliders