Sugar glider

Appearance

The sugar glider has a squirrel-like body with a long, partially prehensile tail. The length from the nose to the tip of the tail is about 24 to 30 cm , and males and females weigh 140 grams and 115 grams respectively. Heart rate range is 200-300 beats per minutes, and respiration rate is 16-40 breaths per minute. The sugar glider is a sexually dimorphic species, with males typically larger than females. Sexual dimorphism has likely evolved due to increased mate competition arising through social group structure; and is more pronounced in regions of higher latitude, where mate competition is greater due to increased food availability.

The sugar glider has a thick, soft fur coat that is usually blue-grey; although some have been known to be yellow, tan or albinoDomestic in-breeding of recessive genetic phenotype defects can produce other colour variations not found in nature, such as an all-white leucistic heterozygote. A black stripe is seen from its nose to midway on its back. Its belly, throat, and chest are cream in colour. Males have four scent glands, located on the forehead, chest, and two paracloacal that are used for marking of group members and territory. Scent glands on the head and chest of males appear as bald spots. Females also have a paracloacal scent gland, as well as a scent gland in the pouch, but do not have scent glands on the chest or forehead.
It is nocturnal, and its large eyes help it to see at night, and its ears swivel to help locate prey in the dark. The eyes of the sugar glider are set far apart, allowing them to triangulate the distance between launch and landing location during gliding.
The sugar glider has five digits on each foot, with an opposable toe on each hind foot. These opposable toes are clawless, and bend in a way that they can touch all the other digits, like a human thumb, allowing the sugar glider to firmly grasp branches. The second and third digits of the hind foot are partially syndactylous , forming a grooming comb. The fourth digit of the fore foot is sharp and elongated, aiding in extraction of insects under the bark of trees.
The gliding membrane extends from the outside of the fifth digit of each forefoot to the first digit of each hindfoot. When the legs are stretched out, this membrane allows the sugar glider to glide a considerable distance. The membrane is supported by well developed tibiocarpalis, humerodorsalis and tibioabdominalis muscles, and its movement is controlled by these supporting muscles in conjunction with trunk, limb and tail movement.

Lifespan in the wild is up to 9 years; is typically up to 12 years in captivity, and the maximum reported lifespan is 17.8 years.

Distribution

Sugar gliders are found throughout the northern and eastern parts of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and several associated isles, the Bismarck Archipelago, Louisiade Archipelago, and certain isles of Indonesia, Halmahera Islands of the North Moluccas. The earliest Australian sugar glider fossils were found in a cave in Victoria and are dated to 15 000 years ago, at the time of the Pleistocene epoch. The facilitated introduction of the sugar glider to Tasmania in 1835 is supported by the absence of skeletal remains in subfossil bone deposits and the lack of an Aboriginal Tasmanian name for the animal....hieroglyph snipped... In Australia, sugar glider distribution corresponds with forests along the southern, eastern and northern coastlines, and extends to altitudes of 2000 m in the eastern ranges.
Sugar gliders occur in sympatry with the squirrel glider, mahogany glider, and yellow-bellied glider; and their coexistence is permitted through niche partitioning where each species has different patterns of resource use.

They have a broad habitat niche, inhabiting rainforests and coconut plantations in New Guinea; and rainforests, wet or dry sclerophyll forest and acacia scrub in Australia; preferring habitats with ''Eucalpyt'' and ''Acacia'' species. The main structural habitat requirements are a large number of stems within the canopy, and dense mid and upper canopy cover, likely to enable efficient movement through the canopy.
Like all arboreal, nocturnal marsupials, sugar gliders are active at night, and shelter in tree hollows lined with leafy twigs during the day.
The average home range of sugar gliders is 0.5 hectares, and is largely related to the abundance of food sources; density ranges from 2-6 individuals per hectare.

Native owls are their primary predators; others in their range include kookaburras, goannas, snakes, and quolls. Feral cats also represent a significant threat.

Status

The sugar glider is not considered endangered, and its conservation rank is "Least Concern " on the IUCN Red List. Despite the loss of natural habitat in Australia over the last 200 years, it is adaptable and capable of living in small patches of remnant bush, particularly if it does not have to cross large expanses of cleared land to reach them. However, several close relatives are endangered, particularly Leadbeater's possum and the mahogany glider. Sugar gliders may persist in areas that have undergone mild-moderate selective logging, as long as three to five hollow bearing trees are retained per hectare. Although not currently threatened by habitat loss, the ability of sugar gliders to forage and avoid predators successfully may be decreased in areas of high light pollution.

Conservation in Australia is enacted at the federal, state and local levels, where sugar gliders are protected as a native species. The central conservation law in Australia is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 . The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 is an example of conservation law in the state of South Australia, where it is legal to keep one sugar glider without a permit, provided it was acquired legally from a source with a permit. A permit is required to obtain or possess more than one glider, or if one wants to sell or give away any glider in their possession. It is illegal to capture or sell wild sugar gliders without a permit.

Behavior

Sugar gliders are highly social animals. They live in family groups or colonies consisting of up to seven adults, plus the current season's young. Up to four age classes may exist within each group, although some sugar gliders are solitary, not belonging to a group. They engage in social grooming, which in addition to improving hygiene and health, helps bond the colony and establish group identity.
Within social communities, there are two co-dominant males who suppress subordinate males, but show no aggression towards each other. These co-dominant pairs are more related to each other than to subordinates within the group; and share food, nests, mates, and responsibility for scent marking of community members and territories.
Territory and members of the group are marked with saliva and a scent produced by separate glands on the forehead and chest. Intruders who lack the appropriate scent marking are expelled violently. Rank is established through scent marking; and fighting does not occur within groups, but does occur when communities come into contact with each other. Within the colony, no fighting typically takes place beyond threatening behaviour. Each colony defends a territory of about 1 hectare where eucalyptus trees provide a staple food source.

Male sugar gliders are one of the very few species of mammals that exhibit male parental care. The oldest codominant male in a social community shows a high level of parental care, as he is the most likely father of any offspring due to his social status.
This paternal care care likely evolved in sugar gliders as young are more likely to survive when parental investment is provided by both parents. In the sugar glider, biparental care allows one adult to huddle with the young and prevent hypothermia while the other parent is out foraging, as young sugar gliders aren’t able to thermoregulate until they are 100 days old .

Communication in sugar gliders is achieved through vocalisations, visual signals and complex chemical odours. Chemical odours account for a large part of communication in sugar gliders, similar to many other nocturnal animals. Odours may be used to mark territory, convey health status of an individual, and mark rank of community members. Gliders produce a number of vocalisations including barking and hissing.

Habitat

Sugar gliders are found throughout the northern and eastern parts of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and several associated isles, the Bismarck Archipelago, Louisiade Archipelago, and certain isles of Indonesia, Halmahera Islands of the North Moluccas. The earliest Australian sugar glider fossils were found in a cave in Victoria and are dated to 15 000 years ago, at the time of the Pleistocene epoch. The facilitated introduction of the sugar glider to Tasmania in 1835 is supported by the absence of skeletal remains in subfossil bone deposits and the lack of an Aboriginal Tasmanian name for the animal....hieroglyph snipped... In Australia, sugar glider distribution corresponds with forests along the southern, eastern and northern coastlines, and extends to altitudes of 2000 m in the eastern ranges.
Sugar gliders occur in sympatry with the squirrel glider, mahogany glider, and yellow-bellied glider; and their coexistence is permitted through niche partitioning where each species has different patterns of resource use.

They have a broad habitat niche, inhabiting rainforests and coconut plantations in New Guinea; and rainforests, wet or dry sclerophyll forest and acacia scrub in Australia; preferring habitats with ''Eucalpyt'' and ''Acacia'' species. The main structural habitat requirements are a large number of stems within the canopy, and dense mid and upper canopy cover, likely to enable efficient movement through the canopy.
Like all arboreal, nocturnal marsupials, sugar gliders are active at night, and shelter in tree hollows lined with leafy twigs during the day.
The average home range of sugar gliders is 0.5 hectares, and is largely related to the abundance of food sources; density ranges from 2-6 individuals per hectare.

Native owls are their primary predators; others in their range include kookaburras, goannas, snakes, and quolls. Feral cats also represent a significant threat.

Reproduction

Like most marsupials, female sugar gliders have two ovaries and two uteri; and are polyestrous, meaning they can go into heat several times a year. The female has a marsupium in the middle of her abdomen to carry offspring. The pouch opens anteriorly, and two lateral pockets extend posteriorly when young are present. Four nipples are usually present in the pouch, although reports of individuals with two nipples have been recorded. Male sugar gliders have a bifurcated penis to correspond with the two uteri of females.
The age of sexual maturity in sugar gliders varies slightly between the males and females. Males reach maturity at 4 to 12 months of age, while females require from 8 to 12 months. In the wild, sugar gliders breed once or twice a year depending on the climate and habitat conditions, while they can breed multiple times a year in captivity as a result of consistent living conditions and proper diet.

A sugar glider female gives birth to one or two babies per litter. The gestation period is 15 to 17 days, after which the tiny joey will crawl into a mother's pouch for further development. They are born largely undeveloped and furless, with only the olfactory organs and a continuous arc of cartilage in their shoulder developed girdle to provide support for climbing into the pouch Young are completely contained in the pouch for 60 days after birth, eyes first open around 80 days after birth, and young will leave the nest around 110 days after birth. By the time young are weaned, the thermoregulatory system is developed, and in conjunction with a large body size and thicker fur, they are able to regulate their own body temperature.
Breeding is seasonal in south east Australia, with young only born from June–November. Further north in Arnhem Land, breeding is not seasonally restricted and young may be born throughout the year.
Unlike animals that move along the ground, the sugar glider, and other gliding species, produce fewer, but heavier, offspring per litter; allowing female sugar gliders to retain the ability to glide when pregnant.

Food

Sugar gliders are seasonally adapted omnivores with a wide variety of foods in their diet, and mainly forage in the lower layers of the forest canopy. Sugar gliders may obtain up to half their daily water intake through drinking rainwater, with the remainder obtained through water held in its food. In summer they are primarily insectivorous, and in the winter when insects are scarce, they are mostly exudativorous becomes crystallized and is referred to as ''manna'', which is consumed by sugar gliders. honeydew or lerp).
To obtain sap and nectar from plants, sugar gliders will strip the bark off trees or open bore holes with their teeth to access stored liquid gum. Little time is spent foraging for insects, as it is an energetically expensive process, and sugar gliders will wait until insects fly into their habitat, or stop to feed on flowers.
Gliders consume approximately 11 g of dry food matter per day. This equates to roughly 8% and 9.5% of body weight for males and females, respectively.
They are opportunistic feeders and can be carnivorous , and eat many other foods when available, such as nectar, acacia seeds, bird eggs, pollen, fungi and native fruits. Pollen can make up a large portion of their diet, and for this reason sugar gliders are likely to be important pollinators of ''Banksia'' species. Sugar gliders have an enlarged caecum to assist in digestion of complex carbohydrates obtained from gum and sap.