Sunday, July 22, 2018

Flying Squirrels - The Most Amazing Animals People Rarely See


Flying Squirrels - The Most Amazing Animals People Rarely See

Southern Flying Squirrels are fascinating nocturnal creatures of the forest. Their big saucer eyes, little pink nose, thick almost arctic like fur and of course their big folds of skin they use like wings to glide from tree to tree. If you watch them closely their most amazing skill is to run both up and down trees at full speed. They move about by climbing high in a tree - glide to another tree - climb to the top and repeat. There is no doubt they are squirrels as you watch their feeding behaviour - give them a pile of sunflower sees on a tree feeder near a security light and enjoy the show! To watch them flying in action check out: https://youtu.be/yYqAhJPF1NI
Southern Flying Squirrel
Glaucomys volans
This diminutive rodent with the big saucerlike eyes is probably the most common mammal never seen by humans. It occupies habitat similar to that of the gray squirrel and, to a lesser extent, the fox squirrel, yet because it is a nocturnal species, it is not seen as often as the other two. It is truly arboreal, gliding from tree to tree on folds of outstretched skin.
Description
The southern flying squirrel is smaller than its northern cousin and ranks as the smallest of the state’s 5 tree squirrel species, which include the red squirrel, fox squirrel and gray squirrel. It weighs no more than 2 or 3 oz. and measures from 8 1/2 in. to 97/8 in., including a 3- to 4-inch-long tail. Its fur is a lustrous reddish brown or gray, although its belly is counter-colored a creamy white.
This squirrel’s most distinctive feature is the cape of loose skin that stretches from its wrists to its ankles and forms the membrane on which it glides. The membrane is bordered in black. When the squirrel stretches its legs to their fullest extent, the membrane opens and supports the animal on glides of considerable distance.
Flying squirrels produce a birdlike chirping sound. Some of their vocalizations are not audible to the human ear. More info:
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/L...
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