with Tony Wellington
Squirrel Gliders bear no relationship to squirrels other than both animals having bushy tails. Of course, there are no native squirrels in Australia, although attempts were once made to introduce them a century or so back by muddle-headed acclimatisation societies. Some squirrels did escape from Perth Zoo in recent times, and numbers reached a thousand or so before an eradication program dealt with the problem. Thankfully, squirrels are easy to trap.
Squirrel Gliders are bigger than their better-known cousins, the Sugar Gliders, but otherwise look very much the same. Recently, Sugar Gliders have been separated into threegenetically distinct species, and something similar may yet occur for Squirrel Gliders.
These cute animals live on nectar, pollen, plant sap, the odd insect and even honeydew from scale insects. Like other gliders, they can fall prey to dogs, cats, foxes, owls, goannas and barbed wire fences.
They require old tree hollows to while away the daylight hours and also raise their young, so habitat loss through deforestation and logging are definite threats to species survival.
Tony has worked as a filmmaker, artist, author, photographer and media lecturer. He has also been a Councillor on both the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Councils, as well as Mayor of Noosa.
