Sugar+Glider

//__Petaurus breviceps:__//
//**Petaurus:**// rope-dancer Refering to the sugar glider's quick movements on trees high in the canopy.
 * Domain: || Eukarya ||
 * Kingdom: || Animalia ||
 * Phylum: || Chordata ||
 * Class: || Mammalia ||
 * Order: || Diprotodontia ||
 * Family: || Petauridae ||
 * Genus: || Petaurus ||
 * Species: || P. Breviceps ||
 * //breviceps://** short-headed

__Habitat:__
The sugar glider can be found throughout New Ginea, Tasmania, and the Northern and Eastern edges of Australia. They live in the forests where there are plenty of eucalyptus and acacia trees.

The sugar glider lives in Australia's cool and moist forests. There is many rainfall due to the forests being on the coastline of Australia. The seasons in the sugar glider's home is the opposite in the northern hemisphere. December-February is the Summer, March-May is Autumn, June-August is Winter, and September-November is the Spring. The went seasons are from Nov. to Apr. and the dry seasons are from Apr. to Nov. But the tempertures remain tropical thanks to the ocean surrounding Australia. There are a variety of strange animals in Australia that also live along side the sugar glider. Just like the sugar glider, there are many marsupials: mammals that birth their young in pouches. Monotremes, mammals that lay eggs, are also found here. Marsupials and monotremes only live in Australia and including New Guinea and Tasmania. Marsupials inhabiting Australia are koalas, kangaroos, possums and sugar gliders. Australia also has many venomous animals than nonvenomous like snakes, jellyfish, platypus, and stingrays. The plant life is just as diverse. There are thirty major vegetation groups. The thirty-nine percent of native vegetation is eucalypt and acacia woodlands (where the sugar glider lives), tussock grasslands, and chenopod/samphire shrubs.

__Species Interactions:__
The sugar glider is a small omnivore that eats from nectar and fruit to insects, eggs, small birds or rodents. But being that the sugar glider is a small and helpless animal when it is not protected by its colony, it can be preyed on. Predators of the sugar glider include foxes, kooksburras, owls, snakes and even humans that cut down the trees they live in. But when the sugar glider does not have to worry about other predators, it is very good at capturing its own food. Their large eyes help them to spot prey at night and their large but flat teeth help to chew on bark and plants of trees.

__Reproduction:__
Since sugar gliders are marsupials, their babies are born undeveloped. The gestation period is about sixteen days and then, they crawl to the mother's pouch and attach to a teat. The ramain in the pouch for seventy days. After this, they can decide to come out of the pouch and stay in the nest or attach to the mother's belly. They open their eyes in ten days and are fully weaned in sixteen weeks. They will learn to live and flourish with the rest of the colony that contains up to a dozen individuals. Suagr gliders have a life span of eight to twelve years in the wild and ten to fifteen years in captivity. Once they are matured, sugar gliders are ready to breed at a young age. Young females are ready to reproduce at eight to ten months while young males are ready at four months. Sugar gliders mate three times ayear or more from July to December. The mating begins at the late hours of night. Only the dominant male will mate and with all females. The male will mount the female, hanging on tightly, while biting her neck to control her. Once babies are produced, both male and female sugar glider will help care for the baby, as well as the rest of the colony. They will leave the pouch and the parents will teach the joey how to forage. At four months after weaning, they are on their own.

__Sugar Gliders as Pets:__
This wild marsupial has just recently become a favorite exotic pet in America.