Sugar glider is a small Australian marsupial that can glide up to 164 feet (50 meters) between one tree and another. Sugar gliders can run across open ground to reach another patch of trees. Their gliding mechanism consists of skin flaps that stretch from the fifth finger of each hand to the hind toe on their feet, thus forming rectangular wings. When climbing or running, a sugar glider folds this membrane close to its body.
The sugar glider’s name comes from its liking for sweet foods. These animals eat wattle gum and sweet liquids produced by insects that suck sap. They also bite into eucalyptus trees to drink sap. The sugar glider grows up to 15 inches (40 centimeters). The tail accounts for about half this length.
Sugar gliders are fairly common in northern and eastern Australia, and in New Guinea. The closely related yellow-bellied glider lives in eastern and southeastern Australia. It cuts large V-shaped notches in the bark of many kinds of trees.
