Sugar Glider Natural History
Size
Sugar Gliders are squirrel-sized marsupials measuring between 12. and 32 cm weighing just 150g.
Habitat and Distribution
This is arboreal species so it spends most of its time in the trees. They inhabit forests across Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The rarely travel down to the ground due to finding all the shelter and food they need up in the trees.
Age
In the wild these animals can live for up to 5 years but in captivity they can live for the much longer period of 15 years.
Diet
Sugar Gliders are omnivores feeding on both plants and meat including nestlings.
Groups and Breeding
They are very sociable creatures living in family groups and little colonies.
They have an incredibly short gestation period of just 16 days after which they spend up to 70 days safely tucked inside their mother’s pouch where they can suckle until they are big enough to start adventuring away from mum slowly.
They tend to make their nests inside tree hollows and can use their prehensile tail to gather and hold leaves to take back to the nest with them.
Threats
This species is currently listed as least concern with a stable population.
Interesting Facts
They have a membrane which stretches from their wrists to their ankles and this is called the patagium. They can use this to glide more than 45 meters.
The ‘sugar’ part of their name comes from their preference for eating sweet foods like eucalyptus sap, flower nectar and acacia gum.
The Sugar Gliders During Your Day Out in Kent
We are home to six sugar gliders made up of one male and five females. They can be seen in our new Nocturnal House alongside a number of other nocturnal species included Clouded Leopards, Tawny Frogmouths and Common Palm Civets.