Baby sugar glider takes flying lessons

Adult male sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps. The bald spot on the forehead is a scent gland. The large eyes are specially adapted for night vision in this nocturnal marsupial. Photograph: Dawson/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.5

I couldn’t resist sharing this video with you: today’s “Caturday” video features an adorable young sugar glider (known as a “joey”) practicing her gliding skills in front of a fan:

Young sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, practices gliding in front of a fan.

The sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, is a small forest-dwelling marsupial native to the northern and eastern parts of Australia. They also occur in forests throughout New Guinea and on a number of nearby islands and island archipelagoes.

They superficially resemble a squirrel, although they are smaller and much, much cuter: they have extremely soft, dense grey fur with a charcoal grey stripe along their spine, creamy white fur on their underparts, large black eyes adapted for night vision, a pink nose and toes, and small rotatable ears. They are sexually dimorphic, with females being smaller than the males, and lacking the scent gland on the forehead. Females give birth to one or two babies (“joeys”) which then reside in her marsupium (pouch) located on her belly, for several months. Male sugar gliders are unusual because they are one of the few mammal species that provide parental care. This video gives you an idea of their physical size:

A sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, snuggles into her human companion’s hand.

The physical character that gives sugar gliders their name is the fur-covered flap of skin along their sides, known as the patagium -- this skin flap is easily visible in the previous video.

When sugar gliders extend their legs, this flap of skin stretches out, allowing them to glide through the air from tree to tree, sometimes for long distances when it’s breezy. Here’s another video that provides slow-motion footage of gliding sugar gliders (ignore the cheesy music):

Slow-motion footage of sugar gliders, Petaurus breviceps, gliding around a house.

Sugar gliders are arboreal possums, and possess a long, furred and weakly prehensile tail that acts as a climbing aid as they move throughout the trees, seeking out insects, nectar, tree sap, and fruits to dine upon. Sugar gliders are highly active and are nocturnal and live in colonies consisting of several adults and their young of the year. Although they can “bark”, they are generally silent, and communicate primarily by using odours and behavioural signals. And cuteness.

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