Mammal Web Page


The Northern Flying Squirrel
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Rodentia
Family	Sciurognathi
Genus	Glaucomys
Species	sabrinus

Description

The northern flying squirrel is nocturnal. They are most active in the hours around sunrise and sunset. They are about one foot in length. Its long broad tail making up 80% of its total body length. It weighs about three to five ounces. The males are not territorial, very much unlike the females. Sounds quite a lot like bobcats, huh? It has large eyes and thick gray fur. Its broad tail and skin-folds between its wrists and ankles form an aerodynamic surface for gliding. Not flying, gliding. It is also an endangered species.

A squirrel in its home tree A squirrel in his nest

Habitat

In the cooler months, the northern flying squirrel takes shelter in tree cavities as well as woodpecker holes. The interior of their nests is lined with moss or chewed bark. It occasionally burrows in the ground and prefers high elevations and coniferous forests.

Parts of North America where the northern flying squirrel lives.

Range

The northern flying squirrel has a home range of .8 hectares to 31 hectares. It is found on the eastern seaboard and in as far as Tennessee. It is also found in Canada. In the United States, it is found mostly in the Appalachian mountains. To me, it seems to have a wide range of the world for an endangered species. On the map above are the places where the northern flying squirrel lives.

Food

The northern flying squirrel diet consists mainly of fungi dug up from underground as well as nuts, acorns, fruits, buds, sap and an occasional insect or a bird egg. In my opinion, a very wide diet. It sounds sort of similar to the human diet except for the fungus and acorns.

Cute little baby squirrels. . . .

Life Cycle

The northern flying squirrel gestation period is about five to six weeks with a litter of two to six young per year. The newborns have closed eyes and ears as well as fused toes and an undeveloped, cylindrical tail. On the sixth day of life, the toes separate. On the 31st day, their eyes and ears open and on the 40th day, they leave the nest for the first time and they are weaned after two months. The average life span for this animal is three to four years in the wild.

Goshawk Marten

Survival

The northern flying squirrel must live in a mature coniferous forest and it mates in winter, and gives birth in the springtime. Some of the northern flying squirrel's primary predators are goshawks, owls and martens.

A squirrel scampering up a tree

Interesting Facts

1. Only 25 northern flying squirrels have been taken into captivity since 1968.

2. The northern flying squirrel can glide up to 150 feet in the air from a 60 foot elevation!

3. The squirrel lands face up and they scamper up their landing tree after landing.

A little squirrel in the hands of a human. A coniferous forest

Human Impact

One positive outlook for the northern flying squirrel is that it has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1985, but the negative human impacts on this animal are clear cutting of forests and loss of snags. I really hope I get to see one sometime.