Sugar glider fact sheet | Field of Mars EEC

What are sugar gliders?

Sugar gliders are small nocturnal marsupial mammals. They are a type of gliding possum and have the scientific name Petaurus breviceps.

Sugar gliders have soft grey fur, a dark stripe along the head and back, large dark eyes and a long bushy tail. They have a thin skin membrane between each front and back leg that lets them glide from tree to tree.

Students are most likely to learn about sugar gliders when studying night-active animals, tree hollows, food webs or eucalypt forest habitats. They are usually hidden during the day and active at night.

A sugar glider.

A sugar glider clings to a tree trunk at night.

Where do sugar gliders live?

Sugar gliders live in forests and woodlands along eastern Australia. In New South Wales, they are found in tall eucalypt forests and woodlands where there are trees for feeding, shelter and movement.

Sugar gliders need connected tree canopies so they can climb and glide without spending much time on the ground. They also need tree hollows for daytime shelter, nesting and raising young.

Lane Cove National Park protects remnant bushland, eucalypt forest, tree hollows and habitat corridors. These features are important for many hollow-using animals, and nearby bushland with similar features can provide the kinds of habitat sugar gliders use.

A sugar glider moves through trees and shrubs at night.

What do sugar gliders eat?

Sugar gliders are omnivores. This means they eat both animal food and plant food. They feed at night on insects and other small animals, and also eat sweet foods such as nectar, pollen, sap and gum from trees and shrubs.

Their name comes from their liking for sweet plant foods and their ability to glide. Sugar gliders do not eat table sugar in the wild. They find food by climbing through trees, visiting flowers and using their sharp teeth to reach sap or gum.

Sugar gliders are part of forest food webs. They can help control insect numbers and may move pollen between flowers as they feed. They can also become food for larger night-hunting animals.

Sugar gliders eat insects and other small animals as part of their diet.

What do sugar gliders sound like?

Sugar gliders can be noisy at night. They may make short barking, yapping or chattering sounds to communicate with other sugar gliders.

These sounds can help sugar gliders keep contact with their group, warn others or defend a territory. Their large ears help them listen for calls, prey and danger in the dark.

What is the life cycle of sugar gliders?

Sugar gliders are marsupials, so their young are born very small and undeveloped. After birth, each tiny joey crawls into its mother’s pouch and attaches to a teat.

Joeys stay in the pouch for a little over two months while they grow. Sugar gliders commonly have twins, although the number of young can vary.

After leaving the pouch, young sugar gliders stay in the nest while they continue to grow. They later begin to move through the trees and learn to forage with their mother.

A young sugar glider shows how tiny joeys are after pouch life.

What adaptations do sugar gliders have to help them survive?

Sugar gliders have a gliding membrane that stretches between the fifth finger of each front foot and the ankle of each back foot. When they leap from a tree, this membrane spreads out and helps them glide through the air.

Their long tail helps them balance and steer. Their sharp claws help them grip bark, climb tree trunks and land safely after gliding.

Sugar gliders are adapted for night life. Their large eyes help them see in low light, their ears can move to listen for sounds, and scent glands help them communicate with other sugar gliders. Tree hollows also help them stay hidden and sheltered during the day.

A sugar glider’s large eyes, gripping claws and loose side skin help it move through trees at night.

Why are sugar gliders important?

Sugar gliders are part of healthy forest food webs. They eat insects and other small animals, and they also feed from native flowers and trees.

When sugar gliders visit flowers for nectar and pollen, pollen grains can brush onto their fur and be carried to other flowers. This can help some plants reproduce. Sugar gliders can also be prey for larger animals such as owls and goannas.

Sugar gliders remind us that old trees, connected canopies and tree hollows are important parts of bushland. Looking after these features helps protect the relationships between plants, animals, waterways and seasons on Country.

A sugar glider in a tree can be part of night-time forest food webs.

How can you help sugar gliders?

You can help sugar gliders by protecting old trees, tree hollows and connected patches of native vegetation. Hollow-bearing trees can take a very long time to form, so they should be kept wherever it is safe to do so.

Families and schools can plant local native trees and shrubs, keep cats safely contained, keep dogs on leads in bushland and avoid disturbing wildlife at night. Sugar gliders should not be fed or handled.

Nest boxes or artificial hollows may help some hollow-using animals in places where natural hollows are missing, but they need the right design, position and maintenance. Protecting real habitat is still the most important action.

Tree hollows in living eucalypts provide important shelter for many native animals.

Related fact sheets

More mammal fact sheets

• Mammal fact sheets – Browse native and introduced mammals that live in Australian environments.
• Mammals fact sheet – Learn how mammals feed, shelter, move, reproduce and care for their young.
• Common brushtail possum fact sheet – Compare another nocturnal tree-dwelling marsupial found in Sydney bushland.
• Common ringtail possum fact sheet – Explore another possum that uses trees, shrubs and leafy shelter.
• Grey-headed flying-fox fact sheet – Learn about another nocturnal mammal that feeds on nectar and pollen.

Habitats and ecosystems

• Tree habitats fact sheet – Explore canopies, bark and hollows used by sugar gliders and other wildlife.
• Eucalypt forest fact sheet – Learn about forests that provide flowers, sap, insects and hollow-bearing trees.
• Field of Mars Reserve fact sheet – Find out about local remnant bushland with tree hollows, creeks and habitat corridors.

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