NORTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL

NAMES AND SUBSPECIES

• Common Name: Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus)
• Subspecies: Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus)
• Subspecies: Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel (Glacomys sabrinus fuscus)

DESCRIPTION

• Adults: Grey-Brown fur, white underbelly thats grey at the base
• Flight: Have extra folds of skin behind wrist and ankles that allow them to glide
• Flight Cont: Broad flat tail used similar to a rudder
• Measurements: 210 to 305 mm in length, 95-140 grams in weight

DISTINCTIONS FROM RELATIVES

• Compared to the Southern Flying Squirrel, they are larger
• The Northern Flying Squirrel has a wide underside with gray furs at the base, while the Sourthern is only white
• Prefer conifer forest compared to its relative who shows affinity for deciduous trees, although it lives in both

HABITAT

• Range: southeastern Alaska , Canada, northern Great Lakes area, Appalachians, sierra Nevada, north west
• Range cont: and california
• Biomes: deciduous and coniferous forest, and Northwestern Pacific Forest
• Mean Home Range: 22-72 acres
• The Northern Flying Squirrel prfers to live in coniferous forest

DIET AND PREDATION

• Diet: fungi, lichens, mast-crop nuts, tree sap, insects, bird eggs and nestlings, and buds and flowers
• Role in ecosystem: disseminates spores of fungi that they eat
• Predators: large birds (great horned owl), American marten, Canadian lynx, red fox, and even domestic cats

REPRODUCTION

• Life span: 5 to 6 years
• Breed once a year with litter sizes ranging from1 to 6
• Mating season begins February and ends March
• Gestation period is usually 38-42 days

YOUNG

• Description: organized dark patches with dark grey fur on their backs along with white underbellies
• Weigh 5-6 grams when borned
• Mother weans the young for 2 months
• Father doesn't interact with the young at all

ENDANGERMENT

• The Northern Flying Squirrel population is declining due to habitat fragmentation, pollution, and habitat destruction
• Habitat fragmentation separates population causing difficulties reproducing
• Habitat destruction causes the squirrels to lose their envirome ts leaving them vulnerable

RESTORATION

• North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commision
• Flying Squirrel boxes are made to mark, measure, and survey squirrels as a monitoring project
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office
• Figuring out exact range, protecting suitable habitats, exploring ecology, and testing responces to habitat changes

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• "Carolina northern flying squirrel" U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Asheville Ecological Services Field Office, n.p., Nov 2011
• "Flying Squirrels" National Wildlife Federation, n.p., n.d.
• "Northern Flying Squirrels" College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Saunders, D.A., 1988
• Pictures from Robert Lubeck, Michael Dick, Stephen Dalton, Erwin Bauer, Peggy Bauer, and Robert Erwin at archive.org