Southern flying squirrels are often the most common squirrel in hardwood woodlands and suburban areas. Because they are nocturnal and seldom seen, most people don't recognize that they live with flying squirrels.
Southern flying squirrels have very large eyes in order to see well in low light. They have keen senses of smell, touch, vision, and hearing. They probably communicate about reproductive condition through chemical cues. Vibrissae on the cheeks, chin, and ankles help them in navigating at night. They are relatively quiet but may use some vocalizations in social communication.
Communication Channels: tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Some subspecies in Central America are rare and may be endangered.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Flying squirrels are sometimes pests when they make nests in houses.
Flying squirrels play important ecosystem roles in hardwood forests. They are also sometimes kept as pets.
Positive Impacts: pet trade
Flying squirrels consume large numbers of the fruiting bodies of subterranean fungi, dispersing the spores in their feces. The mycelia of these fungi form close associations with the roots of many species of trees and are believed to be essential for tree growth and maintenance. They also disperse the seeds of hardwood trees.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Southern flying squirrels are omnivores and eat a wide range of foods, including nuts, acorns, seeds, berries, fruit, moths, junebugs, leaf buds, bark, eggs and young birds, young mice, insects carrion, and fungus. They are especially fond of hickory nuts and acorns; one sure sign of the presence of this species is piles of gnawed hickory nuts at the base of large hickory trees. They will store food for winter use.
Animal Foods: birds; eggs; carrion ; insects
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Other Foods: fungus
Foraging Behavior: stores or caches food
Primary Diet: omnivore
Glaucomys volans is found in southeastern Canada, the eastern United States, and south as far as Mexico and Honduras.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )
Southern flying squirrels are found in woodlands. They seem to prefer seed-producing hardwoods, particularly maple, beech, hickory, oak, and poplar. They are also found in mixed conifer/deciduous forests.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Southern flying squirrels in the wild can live to 5 or 6 years old. In captivity they have been known to live up to 10 years. Most flying squirrels probably die in their first year of life.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 10 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 6 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 12.0 years.
Flying squirrels are easily distinguished by the "gliding membrane", a flap of loose skin that extends from wrist to ankle. The loose skin along the side of the body is supported by cartilaginous spurs on the wrists and ankles. The soft fur on the back and tail is grey with varying amounts of grey tinge; the belly is white. The tail is dorso-ventrally flattened. The eyes are very large, probably related to the nocturnal habits and the visual requirements of gliding. Total length is 21.1 to 25.7 cm and tail length is 7.9 to 12 cm.
Range mass: 46 to 85 g.
Average mass: 65.38 g.
Range length: 21.2 to 25.7 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.414 W.
Flying squirrels avoid predators by being nocturnal and by being fast and agile in the trees and during their glides. They are alert for predators constantly. The most successful predators on flying squirrels are able to fly, such as hawks and owls, or can climb well, such as domestic cats, bobcats, weasels, raccoons, and climbing snakes.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Little is known about the mating system in southern flying squirrels. Males and females do not associate much beyond breeding.
Not much is known about mating in southern flying squirrels.
Mating System: polygynous
Females are polyestrous and typically mate twice per year. Births thus have two peaks, from February to May and from July to September. There is, however, some geographic variation in the timing of births. (In Michigan, they court and breed in winter and early spring.) The gestation period is 40 days. Litters can range from one to six young, though two or three is most common. The young are weaned at 65 days (an unusually long time for an animal this small) and are independent at 120 days. Maturity is usually attained at twelve months, though ages as young as nine months have been reported.
Breeding interval: Southern flying squirrels breed twice each year.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from January to April and from June to August.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 6.
Average number of offspring: 2-3.
Average gestation period: 40 days.
Average time to independence: 120 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 9 (low) months.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 12 months.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 12 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); viviparous
Average birth mass: 3.35 g.
Average gestation period: 40 days.
Average number of offspring: 4.
Young flying squirrels are born naked and helpless in their mother's nest. Their ears open at 2 to 6 days old, they develop some fur by 7 days old, and their eyes open by their 24th or 30th day of life. Females care for their young in the nest and nurse them for 65 days, which is an unusually long time for an animal of this size. The young become independent by 4 months old unless they are born later in the summer, in which case they usually overwinter as a family.
Parental Investment: altricial ; female parental care
