The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus

Petaurus

The genus Petaurus contains flying phalangers or wrist-winged gliders, a group of arboreal marsupials. There are six species, Sugar Glider, Squirrel Glider, Mahogany Glider, Northern Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider and Biak Glider, and are native to Australia or New Guinea.Flying phalangers are...

.

Habitat

This species' home range extends from Bordertown near the South Australian/Victorian Border through south-eastern Australia to northern Queensland. This species was thought to be extinct in South Australia since 1939 until a genetic test confirmed their presence in the area.

The Squirrel Glider lives in dry sclerophyll forest and woodlands in south-eastern Australia. In Queensland, however, they occupy a wetter eucalypt forest.

The glider sleeps in a leaf-lined den in a hollow tree. It usually lives in groups of one male, 2 females, and offspring.

Appearance

Like most of the wrist-winged gliders, the Squirrel Glider is endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is about twice the size of the related Sugar Glider

Sugar Glider

The sugar glider is a small gliding possum originating from the marsupial family.The sugar glider is native to eastern and northern mainland Australia and is also native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.- Habitat :Sugar gliders can be found all throughout the northern and eastern parts of...

 (P. breviceps). Its body is 18-23cm long and its tail measures at 22-33cm long. It weighs about 230g or 0.5lbs. They have blue-grey or brown-grey fur on their back and a white belly. The end of their tail is black and they have a black stripe from their eyes to the mid-back. They have a flying membrane that extends from their 5th front toe to the back of their foot on both sides. When they glide their prehensile tail can act as a rudder, allowing them to steer which direction they want to go.They can glide up to 50m from tree to tree. They tend not to glide in captivity.

Reproduction

The breeding season is between June and January. The gestation/pregnancy of a female is 18 days. The litter sizes are usually one to two offspring a year. The offspring will immediately crawl to the mother's marsupium

Marsupium

Marsupium is the Latin word for a pouch in several animal groups:* Pouch , in marsupials* Brood pouch , in peracarid crustaceans* Brood pouch , in syngnathids such as sea horses...

 and anchor itself to a teat where it will stay for about 3 months. The mother will wean off her offspring around 4 months were they stay in the den. The offspring become independent at 10 months and go off on their own. The life expectancy is 4-6 years.

Diet

The Squirrel Glider eats mostly fruit and insects. It also feeds on tree sap, mainly Eucalypt or Red Bloodwood trees. In order to get the sap the Squirrel glider will pierce the trunk of the tree causing sap to flow out of it. It also eats pollen, nectar, leaves, and bark.

Predators

The species is threatened by humans clearing and breaking up their habitats. It also has predators of dogs, cats, foxes, and owls. This causes the species to be put on the Near Threatened list, meaning it is close to being a threatened species.

Phylogeny

The Squirrel Glider's closest relatives come from the same genus, Petaurus and they include the Sugar Glider (P. breviceps) , Mahogany glider (P. gracilis), Northern glider(P. abidi), Biak Glider(P. biacensis) and Yellow-Bellied glider (P. australis). It is not yet known which species the gliders diverged from. The Squirrel Glider most likely evolved from a marsupial like a possum that had membranes for gliding. Other animals that have this same ancestor include Striped possum and Leadbeaters possum.

Analogous structures

Squirrel Gliders are often mistaken for flying squirrels of North America. These two species aren’t related at all. The Flying Squirrel is a placental mammal and the Squirrel glider is a marsupial like koalas and kangaroos. Both have an adaptation for tree living – Patagia. This is the skin that extends from their front to hind legs allowing them to glide between the trees avoiding predators they might come into contact with on the ground. Because these animals are distantly related we call these characteristics analogous.

Homologous structures

Squirrel gliders are able to curl their tails around branches to hold on. This feature is homologous to the ring tail possum (order of Diprodontia) which use their tail as an extra limb to grab hold of trees. It is longer but the squirrel gliders tail is bushier.

External links

• Gliders in the Spotlight — Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
  Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
  The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland is a Queensland based conservation organisation. The Society was founded in 1962 by Judith Wright, Brian Clouston, David Fleay and Kathleen McArthur...
  
  
• Keeping squirrel gliders in captivity (Marsupial Society)
• Elizabeth Ann Flaherty: Locomotor performance and cost of transport in the squirrel glider, Petaurus Norfolcensis (Petauridae) (pdf)