Southern Flying Squirrel

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Southern Flying Squirrel

The Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) is one of two species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of the genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Glaucomys, the only flying squirrel

Flying squirrel

The flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of squirrels . There are 43 species in this tribe, the largest of which is the woolly flying squirrel ....
s found in North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
(the other is the somewhat larger Northern Flying Squirrel

Northern Flying Squirrel

The Northern flying squirrel is one of two species of the genus Glaucomys, the only flying squirrels found in North America . Flying squirrels are strictly nocturnal....
G. sabrinus). It is found in deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
and mixed woods in the eastern half of North America, from southeastern Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, to Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, USA. Disjunct populations of this species also have been recorded from the highlands of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
and Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras ....
.

hern flying squirrels have grey brown fur on top with darker flanks and are a cream color underneath.

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Description and ecology

Southern flying squirrels have grey brown fur on top with darker flanks and are a cream color underneath. They have large dark eyes and a flattened tail. They have a furry membrane called a patagium

Patagium

*In bats, the skin forming the surface of the wing. It is an extension of the skin of the abdomen that runs to the tip of each digit, uniting the part of the body you will never get with the body....
which extends between the front and rear legs, used to glide through the air.

Southern Flying Squirrels feed on fruit and nuts from trees such as red

Red Oak

Red Oak may refer to:Botany*The Red Oak tree Place namesIn the United States:*Red Oak, Georgia*Red Oak, Iowa*Red Oak, North Carolina*Red Oak, Oklahoma...
and white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the White Oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak in the family Fagaceae, native to eastern North America, from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas....
, hickory

Hickory

Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as Hickory. The genus includes 17?19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaf and large nut ....
and beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe and North America.The leaf of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad....
. They store food, especially acorns, for winter consumption. They also dine on insects, buds, mushrooms, mycorrhizal fungi, carrion, bird eggs and nestlings and flowers. Predators include snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate legless carnivore reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears....
s, owl

Owl

The Strigiformes are an order of bird of prey, comprising 200 species. Most are solitary, and Nocturnal animal, with some exceptions . Owls mostly hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish....
s, hawk

Hawk

The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Europe and Asia, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genus Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis....
s and raccoon

Raccoon

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most widespread species, the Raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are considerably lesser-known....
s. Domestic house cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
s can be dangerous to these animals. Although graceful in flight, they are particularly vulnerable on the ground.

Although the squirrels will make outside nests, especially in pine woods, they prefer to nest in holes in dead trees, snags or attics. They often use these nesting holes communally, especially in winter, when huddling gives them significant energy savings. They readily use artificial nest boxes. They choose holes with smaller entrances than those used by the sympatric Eastern gray squirrel

Eastern Gray Squirrel

File:Squirrel4.jpgFile:1993 grauhoernchen.ogg?The Eastern Gray Squirrel , or the Grey Squirrel, depending on region, is a tree squirrel native to the Eastern United States and midwestern United States and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada....
(Sciurus carolinensis). Sometimes they use holes that have been made by woodpecker

Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks....
s such as the Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

About the size of the Northern Cardinal, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker is approximately 8.5 inch long, with a wingspan of about 14 in. and a weight of about 1.5 ounces....
(Picoides borealis); since this is an endangered species, the squirrels are sometimes removed from areas where the woodpeckers nest, though the usefulness of this practice has been disputed. They tend to avoid areas of forest that have been harvested recently.

Both in the wild and in captivity they can produce two litters each year (with 2-7 young per litter), in early spring and mid-summer. The gestation period is approximately 40 days. Young are born without fur or any capabilities of its own. Their ears open at 2 to 6 days old, and fur grows in by 7 days. Their eyes don't open until they are 24-30 days old. Parents leave their young 65 days after they are born. The young then become fully independent at 120 days of age.

Southern Flying Squirrels show substantial homing

Homing

Homing is the process of determining the location of the source of a transmission. A beacon that transmits a signal for the purpose of being homed is called a homing beacon or, simply, a homing beacon....
abilities, and can return to their nests if artificially removed to distances of up to a kilometre. Their home ranges may be up to 40,000 square metres for females and double that for males, tending to be larger at the northern extreme of their range.

Many wildlife biologists condemn the keeping of wildlife as pets. Many U.S. states have laws in place that make it illegal to capture, sell, or keep native wildlife, and other states require a special permit to do so. It is illegal to keep native wildlife in captivity in Canada without a special permit.

Exposure to Southern Flying Squirrels has been linked to cases of epidemic typhus

Typhus

Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters. The causative organism is Rickettsia prowazekii, transmitted by the human body louse ....
in humans. Typhus spread by flying squirrels is known as "sylvatic typhus" and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency of the United States United States Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States adjacent to the campus of Emory University and northeast of downtown Atlanta....
has documented a total of 39 such cases in the U.S. from 1976 to 2001. The squirrel acts as host to the Rickettsia prowazekii

Rickettsia prowazekii

Rickettsia prowazekii is a species of gram negative, bacillus, Obligate_intracellular_parasite, Aerobic_organism bacteria that is the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus, transmitted in the feces of lice and fleas....
bacteria and transmission to humans is believed to occur via lice or fleas.

Footnotes

External links

– Pet squirrel care