Rehab Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps)

• SUGAR GLIDER (Petaurus breviceps) info wildlife.org.au

The sugar glider is possibly the most commonly known of all the glider species in Australia. The sugar glider has 5 known subspecies. 2 subspecies are found in Papua New Guinea, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. The South Australian subspecies is P.b. breviceps, Queensland’s subspecies is P.b. longicaudatus, and Northern Territory and Western Australia subspecies is P.b. ariel. The sugar glider’s gliding distance is very similar to the squirrel glider as it can also glide up to 90 meters between trees.

Sugar gliders earned their name from their love of eating nectar and flowers but they eat insects too. The scientific name Petaurus breviceps means short-headed rope dancer. The sugar glider was actually introduced into Tasmania in 1835, and remains the only species of glider in the state. The sugar glider is widely used in the pet trade especially in the United States of America.
Description

The sugar glider’s fur is a blue-grey to brown grey above with a dark stripe that extends from the middle of the head to the mid-back region. The tail can have a white tip whereas the squirrel glider never has a white tip. The face of the sugar glider is blunter than the squirrel glider as well. The glider is about the size of a rat, the tail is about the thickness of a human thumb and is slimmer than the squirrel glider.

Body measurements:
Head-body length, 160-210 averaging 170 mm
Tail length, 165-210 averaging 190 mm
Weight, males 115-160 averaging 140 grams, females 95-135 averaging 115 grams.

The gliding membrane extends from wrist to ankle.