CONSUMING [nichole] Today

The Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small gliding marsupial native to eastern and northern mainland Australia, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, and later introduced to Tasmania.

You may remember that marsupials are animals that carry their young in a pouch (think kangaroo) until they are ready to fend for themselves. They are born at a very early stage of development at which time the tiny baby must crawl up the belly of its mother, find the pouch, and attach to a nipple inside.

Us humans, like the majority of mammals, are placental animals. Meaning, no cool pouches for us and we must carry our unborn young much longer before birth. (I don’t know about you, but I think I know several women who would easily trade their placenta and hours of labor for a pouch if given the choice!)

You may not have known that female marsupials have 2 vaginas that lead to a compartmentalized uterus. This allows her to be pregnant with embryos at different stages of development. A similar, but rare thing can happen in humans. If a woman has a split or double uterus it can result in a super rare set of twins conceived at different times.

Fittingly, male marsupials have a 2 pronged penis. This way he can attempt to impregnate both sides of the female’s uterus.

Well, anyway, back to our marsupial of topic, sugar gliders! Sometimes they can be confused with flying squirrels since they have similar attributes. Both species have patagium, or fur covered skin that stretches between their limbs, that they use when gliding. Both have long furry tails that they use to help maneuver when gliding. However, sugar glider tails are round and usually have a black tip and flying squirrel tails are flat and shorter. And of course, squirrels are actually rodents, and not marsupials. There are more differences outlined here with pictures.

The genus name, Petaurus, is pronounced pet-or-us and means “tightrope walker” or “rope dancer” and the species name, Breviceps, is pronounced brev-ee-seps and means “short head”.

The common name, Sugar Glider, comes from the fact that they are known to eat sweet things like nectar. Like us, they are omnivores at eat a variety of foods. Nectar, pollen, and sap from trees are favorites. To reach the sap, they bite holes into the tree bark until the sap goos out. They also feed on assorted insects and larvae, small birds, mice, seeds and nuts.