Flying Squirrels

Flying squirrels are not true members of the squirrel family. They are about 8 inches long, about half of that in a flat tail shaped much like that of a beaver. Flying squirrels use their tail for steering when gliding. It looks much like a squirrel's tail when they are up and active, because they curl it like a squirrel. Flying squirrels do not really fly; they glide. They can travel about 3 feet horizontally for every 1 foot they fall when gliding. Flying squirrels have very light fragile bones for gliding. In the wild they live only a few years because they develop calcium deficiencies, which can kill them. In captivity, they can live 10-15 years, if given adequate calcium. Pecans are their favorite food. Flying Squirrels reach sexual maturity when they are about one year old. The gestation period for a pregnant female is normally 40 days. A normal litter will have between two and four babies, this number can range up to around seven under extremely good environmental conditions. In March 1995, two naturalists announced the rediscovery of the woolly flying squirrel, thought to be extinct since 1924. The animal, which lives above the tree-line in the Himalayas, is gigantic by squirrel standards—two feet tall, with a tail of the same length.