{"topic_id":"exotic_pet_profile_sugar_glider","category":"exotic-pet-profile","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_pet_profile_sugar_glider\ncategory: exotic-pet-profile\ntitle: \"Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan) — species account Petaurus breviceps\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/sugar_glider.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-28\ntokens_estimated: 0\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Animal Diversity Web species account (Petaurus breviceps)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan)\"\n  title: \"Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)\"\n  url: \"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Petaurus_breviceps/\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-28\"\n  ref: \"ADW species account Petaurus breviceps\"\n  doc_type: \"expert species account (.edu, compiled from primary literature)\"\n  needs_review: false\nauthority_tier: T3\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T3:expert-db\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-04\n---\n\n# Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\nAuthoritative first-hand species account (Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan). All bullet facts are verbatim from the cited source and C1-substring verified.\n\n## Geographic Range\n- The sugar glider's distribution covers New Guinea and certain nearby islands, Bismark Archipelago, and northern and eastern Australia.\n\n## Habitat\n- Sugar gliders can live in forests of all types, given that there is an adequate food supply.\n- They build their nests in the branches of eucalyptus trees inside their territory.\n- Since they have also been found to live insSouthern Australia, they must be able to deal with the cold effectively.\n\n## Physical Description\n- The sugar glider is a relatively small marsupial; its head and body are approximately 120-320mm long and the tail has a length of 150-480mm.\n- Sugar gliders are generally blue-greyish dorsally while their ventral surfaces are somewhat paler.\n- A dark stripe runs down the back from the posterior end to the nose, while similar stripes are located on each side of the face running from the eye to the ear.\n- Much like flying squirrels, sugar gliders have a gliding membrane which extends from the outer side of the fore foot to the ankle of the rear foot and may be opened by spreading out the limbs.\n\n## Behavior\n- Sugar gliders are extremely active animals that can glide up to 45 meters.\n- They nest in groups of up to seven adult males and females and their young, all of whom are related.\n- Groups of sugar gliders are mutually exclusive and territorial.\n- Each group defends a certain number of eucalyptus trees which provide the group with its staple food source.\n- The adult males of the group regularly mark this territory with their saliva and with the secretions of their anal, hand, and foot scent glands.\n\n## Food Habits (Wild Diet)\n- Sugar gliders are omnivorous.\n- Sugar gliders are especially found of the sweet sap which can be found in the eucalyptus tree.\n- Their diet also includes pollen, nectar, insects and their larvae, arachnids, and small vertebrates.\n- During the spring and summer months sugar gliders predominately feed upon insects, mainly moths and beetles, and during the fall and winter months they feed on plant products, such as eucalyptus sap and pollen.\n- (Grizmeck, 1990; Grove, 1996; Nowak, 1997; Smith, 1982)\n\n## Reproduction\n- Sugar gliders held in captivity have been found to live up to 14 years.\n- Sexual maturity in sugar gliders occurs late in the first year of life for females and early in the second year for males.\n- Sugar gliders have an estrous cycle of approximately 29 days.\n- In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, there appears to be no definite breeding season.\n\n## Conservation Status\n- Sugar gliders are quite common in Australia.\n- (Nowak, 1997) IUCN Red List Least Concern More information Other Comments If the weather in a particular area ever becomes too cold or there are long periods of food scarcity, sugar gliders are able to fall into a state of brief hibernation.\n- (Grizmek, 1990) Additional Links Encyclopedia of Life Contributors Jason Pasatta (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.\n## Lifespan\n- Average lifespan Status: captivity 14.0 years\n","sources":["exotic-pet-profile — Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics) (retrieved 2026-07-28)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-profile","title":"Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)","url":"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Petaurus_breviceps/","retrieved":"2026-07-28","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Petaurus breviceps)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/sugar_glider.txt"},"source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Petaurus breviceps)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/sugar_glider.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T3","fidelity":"verbatim","license":null,"display_grade":"B"},"tokens_estimated":864,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}