Over the past few years, more and more people have started to adopt sugar gliders as pets. These little animals are as adorable as their name suggests. And you can find thousands of happy sugar glider owners all over social media sites like Instagram.
The Latin name for a sugar glider is Petaurus breviceps which means "short-headed rope-dancer." And that's just one of the many interesting fun facts about sugar gliders.
Are you interested in learning more? If you are, then keep on reading and we'll walk you through everything you'll want to know about sugar gliders.
When it comes to sugar gliders as pets, they really make for good companions. On average, they can live for about ten to fifteen years in captivity.
The average sugar glider's body is around five to six inches long. The tail then adds another five inches. It also acts as a rudder while they glide.
These animals only weigh around four or five ounces.
Believe it or not, a sugar glider has more in common with a kangaroo than they do with a mouse. That's because sugar gliders are marsupials, which means that the females have pouches in which they suckle and carry their babies.
Of course, these animals are much smaller than kangaroos and look a lot different too. This also means that sugar gliders can get along easily with other pets.
Even though it might look like a mouse to a person, a dog or cat won't think so. So as long as you introduce a sugar glider to your other pets slowly, they're sure to get along with each other!
Sugar gliders are omnivores who will eat pretty much anything you put in front of them. Still, they also have a major sweet tooth.
Sugar gliders love to chew on acacia gum, sap, honeydew, honey, and nectar. To get sap, they'll take off the bark of trees and make holes into the trunk so that they can drink the liquid gum.
While they can get half of their water needs from rainwater, they get the rest of their water from the foods that they eat. They also love to eat worms, insects, eggs, and plants.
Sugar gliders get their name because they love to eat sugar but also because they love to glide through the air. These animals live in the branches of trees.
While these animals can easily crawl and walk, they also enjoy gliding from branch to branch, like flying squirrels. With that said, sugar gliders can't actually fly, although it might look like that when they glide from one branch to another.
What actually happens is that they spread their arms and expose their membranes while they move through the air. It was actually flying squirrels and sugar gliders who inspired the creation of the wingsuit.
With that said, these animals have great aerial control. Sugar gliders are appreciated for their aerodynamic capabilities.
An adult sugar glider can glide as far as 150 feet. For every six feet that they move forward, they lose about three feet in height.
By moving their tails, bodies, and arms, they can change angle, speed, and direction. This ensures that they always land exactly where they want to. This helps sugar gliders catch insects in the air.
Because they don't flap their membranes like birds with their wings, sugar gliders also use less energy when they glide.
What's really interesting about sugar gliders is that they spend so much time up in the trees while they live in the wild. Staying up there keeps them safe from bigger predators that are on the ground. So they don't really have any desire to ever go down to the ground.
To move from place to place, sugar gliders jump and glide. This reduces the chances that they will be caught by predators on the ground. They also make their nests in the holes of old trees.
They either make these nests themselves or find ones that were made by other sugar gliders.
Sugar gliders like to live in groups and socialize with one another. Despite this communal way of living, each glider likes to have its own separate home, which we call a nest.
Every nest has either a whole sugar glider family or just one lone glider. To make sure that everyone in the group knows who lives in the nest and owns it, each sugar glider is going to pee in its home. Because the smell of each individual is unique, the smell of their pee lets everyone else know whose home it is.
Sugar gliders use scent in the same way that we use signs, writing, and language. They don't just use pee to mark their nests. They also use scent and saliva to get their messages across.
Because of scents, they're able to understand the social hierarchy of the group.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed these fun facts about sugar gliders. As we can see, sugar gliders are both adorable and incredibly fascinating. They also make for really fun pets.
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