If an older female in the group dies, another female offspring may be recruited to take her place, but solitary adults from nearby territories usually replace males that die. They may then travel across land to reach isolated forest habitats. They are displaced from their maternal groups when they are 7-10 months old.They begin to leave the nest to forage (usually with their mother) at 100-110 days (about 15 weeks) old. They are then deposited in the group nest for a further 30 days.They develop quickly on her protein-rich milk, they stay inside the pouch for about 70 days. The mother helps her newborn into the pouch where each immediately latches on to one of her four nipples.Dependant on their mother, they are blind and weigh 0.19 of a gram. After a gestation period of about 16 days a female produces 2 offspring.The female chooses her partners by rubbing her head on the scent glands of the preferred males' chests. A male establishes his right to mate with a female by rubbing scent from his forehead onto her chest.Though breeding can take place at any time of the year, it usually begins in August.Males give off an odour during breeding, they usually only produce an odour when mating.Have calls of shrill yapping which warns others of danger approaching.Babies make a tiny squeak or peep sound to call their mother.They make a chattering, growling kind of grumpy sound when they are frightened or upset.Their playful sounds are like a tiny puppy making a half barking sound.Sugar gliders make many different sounds.Females have a scent gland in their pouch. The second is a tiny bald spot on his chest. One is the bald spot on the top of his head. Individuals are recognised by their odour as they have well developed scent-marking glands, especially in the males.Live in social groups with up to seven adults and their young sharing one common nest, although in summer these groups often break up.They also eat invertebrates, invertebrate discharges and small animals such as baby birds and young mice.Feed on gum produced by Acacias, and saps of certain Eucalypts.This is because the animal urinates on the leaves in order to keep them down. Their nest is notorious because of the foul smell that comes from it. The Sugar Glider nests in tree hollows are usually leaf lined.It is locally common, with up to at least 10 per hectare, in areas where tree hollows are available for shelter and abundant food supplies are present.They also often thrive in strips and patches of forest remaining on cleared agricultural land and have therefore not suffered as much as some other possums.Density is often highest in open forest habitats in south-eastern Australia where access to acacias is readily available.They prefer patchy, open forest were it has enough space to glide from tree to tree.There are 7 recognised subspecies of sugar gliders, 4 of them in New Guinea.Viewings can be expected every night in normal weather conditions.Honey mixtures are placed on viewing platforms at Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge each evening for them to feed.They can glide up to fifty metres in length.It brings its hind legs in towards its body when about 3m from a target tree, and with an upward swoop, it lands with its four feet in contact with the bark.When leaping from a tree, it spreads out its membranes that extend from the fifth finger to the first toe of the foot on each side of the body, steering and maintaining its stability by varying the curvature of the left or right membrane.They do not use their tails for holding onto branches.The gliding membrane is called a patagium.Sugar gliders often exploit patchy food resources by gliding, as this proves efficient, and also possibly a way to help them avoid predators.Reach Sexual Maturity at 8 to 16 months of age.Their tail tip is white when young and turns grey when the fur gets longer.Tail grey to brown and sometimes tipped with white or black.Blue-grey to brown-grey on dorsal surface, with a dark mid-dorsal stripe from between eyes to mid-back.Tails are often discarded by owls. (Script: Courtesy of Environmental Protection Agency) As with all gliders, the tail is not prehensile - it cannot curl it. The tail is well furred and of a more or less uniform thickness, often with a white tip. There are also black stripes along the limbs. It is light grey with a dark stripe down the middle of its forehead and along its back. The sugar glider is a fairly small possum (shorter in body length than the average black rat) with a gliding membrane down the side of its body.Other common names include the Sugar Squirrel, Lesser Flying Squirrel, Short-headed or Lesser Flying Phalanger, and Lesser Glider.
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