The sugar glider ( Petaurus breviceps ) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to infraclass marsupials. Common names refer to the preferences for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide in the air, like a flying squirrel. They have very similar habits and appearances to flying squirrels, though not closely related - an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps , is translated from Latin as "short-headed rope dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobat.
The sugar glider is characterized by its launching membrane, known as a patagium, which extends from its front legs to its hind legs, one on each side of its body. Glide serves as an efficient way to reach food and avoid predators. The animal is coated with soft fur, pale gray to light brown bold, lighter colored at the bottom.
Sugar gliders are endemic to parts of Australia, New Guinea and certain islands of Indonesia; and was introduced to Tasmania, probably in the 1830s. These are exotic pets that are popular but banned in some areas, including parts of Australia and the United States.
Video Sugar glider
Taxonomy
The genus petaurus is believed to have originated during the early-middle Miocene period (18 to 24 million years ago), then spread from New Guinea to Australia where the Australian species of Petaurus diverged. The earliest species of Petaurus occurred in Australia 4.46 million years ago; and sugar glider is the only endemic species of petaurus in both Australia and New Guinea.
The species is divided into seven subspecies; three occur in Australia, four in New Guinea, although the debate over current species delineation continues. These seven subspecies are currently defined by small morphological differences such as color and body size. However, genetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA suggests that morphological subspecies may not represent a genetically unique population.
Contrary to the current distribution of sugar-glider geography, two genetically distinct populations in Australia may have emerged due to long-term geographic isolation after drying of the Australian continent after Pliocene and the removal of the Great Dividing Range, with a process known as allopatric speciation. One population is found on the coast of New South Wales and southern Queensland; and the other is found in northern Queensland, inland and southern New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Further evidence is needed to clarify if changes to the taxonomic division are currently secured; for example, subspecies P. b. biacensis while considered as a separate species, Biak launcher ( Petaurus biacensis ).
Maps Sugar glider
Distribution and habitat
Sugar gliders are found throughout northern and eastern parts of Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and some islands, Bismarck Islands, Louisiade Islands, and certain islands of Indonesia, Halmahera Islands in North Maluku. The earliest Australian sugar glider fossils were found in a cave in Victoria and dated 15,000 years ago, in the days of the Pleistocene. The introduction of suggested sugar glider to Tasmania in 1835 was supported by the absence of skeletal remains in the subfossil bone deposits and the lack of a Tasmanian Aboriginal name for the animal. In Australia, the distribution of glider sugar corresponds to the forests along the south, east and north coasts, and extends to 2000 m altitude in the eastern range.
Sugar gliders occur sympathetically with squirrel gliders, mahogany gliders, and yellow-belly gliders; and their coexistence is permitted through a niche partition in which each species has a different resource usage pattern.
They have a large niche habitat, inhabiting rainforests and coconut plantations in New Guinea; and rainforests, wet and dry sclerophyll forests and acacia scrubs in Australia; prefer a habitat with species Eucalypt and Acacia . The main structural habitat requirements are the large number of stems in the canopy, and the medium and upper solid canopy cover, tending to enable efficient movement through the canopy.
Like all arboreal, nocturnal marsupials, sugar gliders are active at night, and shelter in the tree basin is lined with leafy twigs throughout the day.
The average home range of sugar gliders is 0.5 hectares (1.2 hectares), and most are related to the number of food sources; densities range from two to six individuals per hectare (0.8-2.4 per acre).
The original owl ( Ninox sp.) Is their main predator; others within their range include kookaburras, goannas, snakes, and quolls. The wild cat ( Felis catus ) is also a significant threat.
Appearance and anatomy
Sugar glider has a squirrel-like body with a long and partial tail tail (weak). The length from the nose to the tail end is about 24-30 cm (9-12 inches), and the men and women weigh 140 and 115 grams (5 and 4 oz) respectively. The heart rate range is 200-300 beats per minute, and the respiratory rate is 16-40 breaths per minute. The sugar glider is a sexually dimorphic species, with males typically larger than females. Sexual dimorphism is likely to have evolved due to increased pairing competition arising through the structure of social groups; and more pronounced in areas with higher latitudes, where coupled competition is greater due to increased food availability.
The fur coat on the sugar glider is thick, soft, and usually blue-gray; although some have been known to be yellow, brown or (rarely) albino. The black line is visible from his nose to the middle on his back. His stomach, throat, and chest were cream-colored. Males have four aroma glands, located on the forehead, chest, and two paracloacal (associated with, but not part of the cloaca which is a common opening for the intestinal tract, urinary and genital tract) used to characterize group members and territories. The scent glands in the male's head and chest appear as balding spots. Women also have paracloacal scent glands and aroma glands in the bag, but do not have perfumed glands on the chest or forehead.
Sugar glider is nocturnal; Her large eyes help to see at night and twist her ears to help find the prey in the dark. The eyes are set far away, allowing more precise triangulation from launch to the landing site while gliding.
Each leg on the sugar glider has five digits, with opposite ends on each hind leg. These opposite toes are clawless, and bend so that they can touch all the other digits, like the human thumb, allowing it to firmly grab the twigs. The second and third numbers of the back foot are partially sindactylous (fused together), forming a treatment comb. The fourth digit of the forelegs is sharp and elongated, helping the extraction of insects under the bark of a tree.
The slider film extends from the outside of the fifth digit of each front foot to the first digit of each hind leg. When the leg is stretched out, this membrane allows the sugar glider to slide far enough. Membranes are supported by well-developed tibiocarpalis, humerodorsalis and tibioabdominal muscles, and their movements are controlled by these supporting muscles along with the movement of the trunk, extremities and tail.
Age in the wild up to 9 years; usually up to 12 years in captivity, and the reported maximum age is 17.8 years.
Biology and behavior
Gliding
Sugar glider is one of a number of aircraft (gliding) possum in Australia. Gliders glide with fore- and hind-limbs extending into the right corner of their bodies, with their legs bent upward. The animal launches itself from a tree, scattering its limbs to expose the sliding membrane. This creates an aerofoil that allows them to slide 50 meters (55 yards) or more. For every 1.82 m (6 ft) in transit horizontally as it slides, the sugar glider falls 1 m (3 ft 3 deep). Sugar gliders can direct by moving their limbs and adjusting the tension of their sliding membranes; for example, to turn left, the sugar glider will lower his left lower arm under his right.
This arboreal drive is usually used to travel from tree to tree; species rarely come down to the ground. Sliding provides three-dimensional evasion of arboreal predators, and minimal contact with living predators on the ground; as well as the possible benefits in reducing the time spent feeding for poorly distributed nutritional food on an irregular basis. Using glide as a driving mode can also allow the sugar glider to reduce their energy consumption when looking for food. Young are brought in a female bag protected from landing forces by a septum separating them in a pouch.
Torpor
Sugar gliders can tolerate ambient air temperatures of up to 40 ° C (104 ° F) through behavioral strategies such as licking their coats and exposing wet areas, and drinking small quantities of water. In cold weather, sugar gliders will cluster to avoid heat loss, and will enter a suspended animation to save energy. Crouching as an energy saving mechanism is not as efficient as a stretcher. Before entering the suspended animation, the sugar glider will reduce normal activity and body temperature to decrease energy expenditure and avoid suspended animation. With energetic constraints, the sugar glider will go into daily dormant for 2-23 hours while in a resting phase. Different cycles of hibernation in suspended animation are usually short-term daily cycles. Entering the torpor saves energy for the animal by allowing its body temperature to drop to a minimum of 10.4 Â ° C (50.7 Â ° F) to 19.6 Â ° C (67.3 Â ° F). When food is scarce, as in winter, the production of heat is lowered to reduce energy expenditure. With low energy and heat production, it is important for the sugar glider to peak its body mass with the fat content in the fall (May/June) to survive the following winter. In the wild, sugar gliders go into daily dormant more often than sugar gliders in captivity. The use of suspended animation most often during winter, probably in response to low ambient temperatures, rainfall, and seasonal fluctuations in food sources.
Diet and nutrition
Sugar gliders are seasonally adaptive omnivores with a wide variety of foods in their diet, and especially foraging in the undercoat of forest canopy. Sugar gliders can earn up to half of their daily water intake by drinking rainwater, with the remainder obtained through water stored in the food. In summer they are mainly insectivorous eaters, and in winter when insects (and other arthropods) are rare, they are mostly exudativorous (feeding on acacia gum, sap of eucalyptus, manna, honey or lerp). Sugar glider has an enlarged caum to help with the digestion of complex carbohydrates obtained from sap and sap.
To get the sap and nectar from the plant, the sugar glider will peel the bark of a tree or open a drill hole with their teeth to access the stored gum. Little time is spent looking for insects, as this is a very expensive process, and sugar gliders will wait until the insects fly into their habitat, or stop to eat the flowers. Gliders consume about 11 g of dried food per day. This equates to about 8% and 9.5% of body weight for men and women, respectively.
They are opportunistic feeders and can be carnivores, mostly preying on lizards and small birds. They eat many other foods when available, such as nectar, acacia seeds, bird eggs, pollen, mushrooms and native fruits. Pollen can make most of their food, therefore sugar gliders tend to be important pollinators of species Banking . Reproduction
Like most marsupials, a female's sugar glider has two ovaries and two uteri; and polyestrous, which means they can become hot a few times a year. The woman has a marsupium (pouch) in the middle of her stomach to carry offspring. The pockets open in front, and two lateral pockets extend posteriorly when young. Four nipples are usually present in the bag, although individual reports with two nipples have been recorded. Sugar glider men have a bifurcation penis to connect with two female uteri.
The age of sexual maturity in the sugar glider is slightly different between men and women. Men reach maturity at age 4 to 12 months, while women need 8 to 12 months. In the wild, sugar gliders breed once or twice a year depending on the climate and habitat conditions, while they can multiply several times a year in captivity as a result of consistent living conditions and proper diet.
A female sugar glider gives birth to one (19%) or two (81%) babies (joeys) per litter. The gestation period is 15 to 17 days, after which a small 0.2 g (0.0071 oz) will propagate to the mother's pocket for further development. They are born largely undeveloped and without feathers, with only the sense of smell developed. They have continuous cartilage arches on their disappearing shoulders soon after birth; It supports the forelimbs, helping climb into the pockets. The mother has an odor gland in an external marsupium to pull the eye joeys from the womb. Young is actually contained in the bag for 60 days after birth, where the mammae provides food for the rest of the development. The eye was first opened about 80 days after birth, and the young will leave the nest about 110 days after birth. When the young are weaned, thermoregulation systems are developed, and along with large body sizes and thicker feathers, they can regulate their own body temperature.
Breeding is seasonal in southeastern Australia, with young only born in winter and spring (June to November). Further north in Arnhem Land, glorification is not seasonally and youngly restricted to birth all year long. Unlike animals moving on the ground, sugar gliders and other gliding species produce less, but heavier, offspring per litter. This allows the female sugar glider to maintain the ability to glide while pregnant.
Socialization
Sugar glider is a very social animal. They live in family groups or colonies consisting of up to seven adults, plus the current young season. Up to four age classes may be present in each group, although some sugar gliders are solitary, excluding groups. They engage in social care, which in addition to improving hygiene and health, helps bind colonies and build group identity.
In the social community, there are two dominant men who suppress subordinate men, but show no aggression against each other. Co-dominant couples are more related to each other than subordinates in the group; and sharing food, nests, spouses, and responsibilities to mark the fragrance of members and community areas.
Territory and group members are characterized by saliva and aroma produced by separate glands on the forehead and chest. Intruders that do not have the proper scent marks will be issued roughly. Ratings are defined by aroma marking; and fighting does not occur in groups, but occurs when people are in touch with each other. Inside the colony, no fights usually occur outside of threatening behavior. Each colony maintains an area of ​​approximately 1 hectare (2.5 hectares) where the eucalyptus tree provides a staple food source.
Sugar glider is one of the few species of mammals that show the care of the elderly. The oldest codominant man in the social community shows a high level of parental care, because he is a possible father of any descendant because of his social status. This father's care evolved on a sugar glider when younger people were more likely to survive when parental investment was provided by both parents. In the sugar glider, biparental treatment allows one adult to negotiate with the young and prevent hypothermia while the other parent goes out to feed, since the young sugar glider can not do thermoregulation until they are 100 days (3.5 months).
Communication in the sugar glider is achieved through vocalizations, visual signals and complex chemical odors. The smell of chemicals is a big part of communication in sugar gliders, similar to many other nocturnal animals. The smell can be used to mark territory, convey a person's health status, and mark the rank of community members. The glider produces a number of vocalizations including barking and hissing.
Human relations
Preservation
Sugar gliders are not considered endangered, and their conservation rating is "Least Concern (LC)" on the IUCN Red List. Despite the loss of natural habitat in Australia over the past 200 years, it can adapt and be able to live in small clumps of bush remains, especially if it does not have to cross the vast expanse of land cleared to reach them. However, some close relatives are threatened with extinction, especially the Leadbeater possum and mahogany launcher. Sugar gliders can survive in areas that have been mildly selective logging, for three to five hollow trees are maintained per hectare. Although currently not threatened by habitat loss, the ability of sugar gliders to find food and avoid predators can successfully decrease in areas of high light pollution.
Conservation in Australia is enforced at federal, state and local levels, where sugar gliders are protected as native species. Australia's central conservation law is the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The 1974 National Parks and Wildlife Act is an example of conservation law in the state of South Australia, where it is legal to store (only) one sugar glider without permission, provided that it is obtained legally from a source with permission. Permission is required to get or have more than one glider, or if someone wants to sell or provide any glider they have. It is illegal to catch or sell wild sugar gliders without permission.
Introduction to Tasmania
According to the naturalist Ronald Campbell Gunn, there are no Petaurus species from Tasmania. He concluded that the sugar glider had been brought to Launceston, Tasmania as a pet from Port Phillip, Australia (now Melbourne) immediately after the establishment of the harbor in 1834. Many sugar gliders had fled and quickly became established in the area. This species has been identified as a threat to the rapid survival of parrots, which breed only in Tasmania. Reduced mature forest cover has left a fast parrot nest very susceptible to predation by sugar glider, and it is thought that the parrot may become extinct by 2031.
In captivity
In captivity, sugar gliders can suffer from calcium deficiency if not given a proper diet. Lack of calcium in the diet causes the body to remove calcium from the bone, with the hind leg first showing a real dysfunction. Calcium for the phosphorus ratio should be 2: 1 to prevent hypocalcemia, sometimes known as hind leg paralysis (HLP). Their diet should be 50% insects (full intestine) or other protein sources, 25% fruit and 25% vegetables. Some of the better known diets are Bourbon's Modified Leadbeaters (BML), High Protein Wombaroo (HPW) and various calcium-rich diets with Leadbeaters Mixture (LBM). Iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) is another dietary problem that has been reported in captive gliders and can lead to fatal complications if not diagnosed and treated early.
Much attention and enrichment of the environment may be necessary for this very social species, especially for those who are kept as individuals. Inadequate social interactions can lead to depression and behavioral disorders such as loss of appetite, irritability and self-mutilation.
As a pet
Around the world, sugar gliders are popular as exotic pets, and are sometimes regarded as pocket pets.
In Australia, sugar gliders can be stored in Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory. However, they are not allowed to be kept as pets in Western Australia, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland or Tasmania.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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