It has dark rings around its big, black eyes, and a charcoal stripe running down the center of its face to its pink nose. Light as a feather. A sugar glider weighs 3 to 5 ounces (85 to 141 grams), about as much as a baseball, and sports short, gray fur, not unlike that of a koala. It is illegal to own a pet sugar glider in the state of California. They are long lived and require plenty of space and others of their own kind to thrive. But wildlife-even adorable ones-typically do not make good household pets. Their appetite for the endangered swift parrot’s nestlings in Tasmania is a grave threat to the bird’s survival there.īeing pocket-sized with big eyes and having the unusual "superpower" of gliding makes this marsupial popular in the pet world. The little sugar glider’s menu choice has a dark side, though. While named for their penchant for eating forest sweets like acacia gum, eucalyptus sap, and flower nectar, sugar gliders are actually omnivorous opportunistic feeders, consuming both plant and animal matter. Once airborne, they steer toward their target by tilting their hands and arms, adjusting the tension in their “wings,” and using their long, flat, bushy tail as a rudder. They are excellent “aviators,” thanks to their wide field of vision-and they can triangulate distances and glide ratios by bobbing their head before launch.
These “wrist-winged gliders” can float on air up to a distance nearly the width of a football field! The sugar glider's main distinguishing feature is a soft membrane between its wrists and ankles called a patagium, which allows it to glide from tree to tree as though using a parachute.
Sugar gliders are largely nocturnal and rarely come to the ground, finding both shelter and food in the trees. They are highly social, living in small colonies or family groups numbering up to seven adults and their offspring. Sugar gliders are squirrel-sized arboreal marsupials that inhabit the forests of Australia and New Guinea.
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