The beautifully marked Sugar Glider has a gliding membrane stretching from forepaw to ankle, allowing it to glide from tree to tree, to a distance of about 50 metres.

By day these small, social gliders rest in a leaf lined hollow, with up to six other adults, plus their young. In winter these small nocturnal gliders come out at night to feed mainly on sap from eucalypts and acacias; often encouraged by cutting grooves in the tree trunk. These sap wells are then vigourously defended by family groups. Insects feature highly on the menu for the rest of the year.

Breeding occurs from June to November. Two young are often reared in a forward opening pouch to about 10 weeks, whereafter they are further suckled in the nest until 15 weeks. The young are independant soon after, but will often remain in the parental nest for much longer.Two litters are often raised in a single season.

Still common in eucalypt forest, the main threat after natural predation, is habitat loss, especially old growth forest, which provides the necessary tree hollows.

If you live in areas where Sugar Gliders live, you can help by building nestboxes. Visit our "Building a nestbox for Sugar Gliders" factsheet here