Flying squirrel vs sugar glider, is any difference between them? Well, both are unique animals and different species. Both have different habitats as well as classifications. Also, they are from other classes, flying squirrels from the kingdom Mammalia and sugar gliders look like rodents but are small marsupials. 

In this article, we will explain the difference between these two animals for your convenience so that you can easily identify these two animals. We will discuss their habitats, environment, physical appearance, diets, and more. Well, there are other species of squirrels that are social animals, but are flying squirrels also social like them? And are sugar gliders social animals? Let’s know about both of them!

What are Flying Squirrels?

Flying squirrels are small rodents from the Sciuridae family. Around 50 species of flying squirrels are primarily found in North America and the Eastern United States. They are also called gliding squirrels because of their gliding characteristic. Flying squirrels are the only squirrel specie with gliding ability. So they are unique from any other squirrel species.

What are Flying Squirrels?

What are Sugar Gliders?

It is a tree-dwelling Australian marsupial. Sugar gliders are also small rodents; you can guess their size with your palm size. They are native to Australia, Indonesia, and southeastern Queensland tropical forests. Also, they are distributed in lowland coastal areas and northern and eastern Australian rainforests. They look like squirrels, and their tails are also 50-60% the same as squirrels.

What are Sugar Gliders?

Flying Squirrel Vs Sugar Glider: Differentiation

Flying Squirrel Vs Sugar Glider: Differentiation

Habitat and Environment:

Flying Squirrel:Sugar Gliders:
Flying squirrels prefer to live in woodlands and ephemeral forests. Because they are flying squirrels and glide from tree to tree and mostly spend their time on trees, they usually make their nests in snags, nest boxes, wooden nests, tree holes, or any abandoned nests already used by birds or any other tree animal.Sugar gliders are regular to coastal lowlands and northern and eastern Australian rainforests. They prefer living in open lands, forests, and wooded areas. Sugar gliders are arboreals and find food, shelter, and safety over the ground. They often shelter in tree hollows during the day. 

Both prefer different habitats and different environments. Also, both are differently native to countries. So this is the significant difference between flying squirrel vs sugar glider.

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Size and Appearance

Flying Squirrel:Sugar Gliders:
If you consider them, they look similar to ground squirrels. They have small rounded faces, small ears, large eyes, and long bushy tails; they are gray-brown in color. Flying squirrels have the ability for night vision because they have dark eyes so that they can have better sight, even so in low light. There are around 50 species of flying squirrels, and each has a different size and weight, but the average size is approximately 6-14 inches long, and the average weight is around 2-4 ounces. The other main flying squirrels, such as the southern flying squirrel size, are around 8-10 inches, and northern flying squirrels are about 9.5-11.5 inches long.Sugar gliders have mushy gray fur covering their body. Their fur also looks like minks. A long black stripe line covers their body to the top of the head. When it touches their head, this black stripe gives a unique crown-like structure. Their body color is black except for their underbelly, which is white. The average size of sugar gliders is around 4-7 inches in length, with an average weight of 3-6 ounces.

Size is another notable difference between flying squirrel v sugar gliders as you see that there is a difference between both of them. Interestingly, sugar gliders are even smaller than flying squirrels, but most of them weigh more than flying squirrels.

Geographical Location

Flying Squirrel:Sugar Gliders:
Flying squirrels can be found all over the world, especially in Europe, Mexico, Central America, and North America. Sugar gliders are mainly native to Australia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. They mostly prefer forested areas.

Geographical location is the other significant difference between flying squirrels and sugar gliders, as both are from different locations in the world. However, both prefer to live in forests and trees. Also, they feel safer on trees.

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Diet

Flying Squirrel:Sugar Gliders:
They are omnivores, so their main diet includes seeds, flowers, fungus, nuts, fruits, and insects. The southern flying squirrel is one of the squirrel specie that is a carnivore because they eat bird eggs, small birds, and carrions.Sugar gliders eat eucalyptus gum, insects, nectar, sap, small mammals, reptiles, lizards, and other small prey. They eat all these things in the wild.

Flying squirrels will eat anything available, and also they will eat whatever you feed them. But the same is not for sugar gliders because their food cycle is limited. They can’t eat what the flying squirrels eat, but there are some things every day in them, like both will eat high-protein food such as insects and reptiles.

Lifespan

Flying Squirrel:Sugar Gliders:
Flying squirrels can live up to 5 years in the wild and around ten years in captivity. They spend most of their time in trees because they are safe and predators do not reach them.Sugar gliders in the wild have an average age of 10-12 years. In captivity, they may live more than in the wild, but this depends on how they have cared for.

FAQ

1- In which weather do sugar gliders can live?

Sugar gliders are capable of living in both dry and highly humid locations.

2- Are sugar gliders nocturnal?

Sugar gliders are energetic at night and sleep during the day, meaning they are nocturnals.

4- What are the predators of flying squirrels?

The natural predator of flying squirrels includes raccoons, foxes, weasels, bobcat, owls, and hawks.

5- What are the predators of sugar gliders?

The natural predators of sugar gliders include snakes, kookaburras, owls, goannas, quolls, and monitor lizards.

Conclusion

Well, there is a huge varience between flying squirrels and sugar gliders. Both are from different family and genus and belongs to other geographical regions. Also, both have different and unique characteristics except gliding which is the same ability. Flying squirrels and sugar gliders have different sizes and appearances, but the new one can get confused while recognizing it as a flying squirrel or sugar glider. Their diet is also other; although both are omnivores flying squirrels can usually eat anything available to them, and there are so many food sources for them that they can go to any of them. While on the other side, sugar gliders’ diet changes with the change of season.

The significant differences between flying squirrels vs sugar glider have been discussed. All the main differences between them are explained easily and better. I hope it has proved to be helpful for you.

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