In March 2024, a trail camera in the western 60 miles of C&O Canal National Historical Park caught a southern flying squirrel investigating the bait — a raw chicken leg — alongside skunks, coyotes and bobcats. Would a flying squirrel really eat chicken? Its diet suggests so.
The trail-camera squirrel, C&O Canal National Historical Park, March 2024. NPS
Gliders of the night
Southern flying squirrels are opportunistic scavengers with an omnivorous diet: insects, birds, small rodents, fruit and seeds. They matter to the forest as seed dispersers.
They don't really fly. A loose flap of skin, the patagium, stretches from wrist to ankle on each side, and they glide from tree to tree on it. Because they are nocturnal, people rarely see them.
Southern and northern
| Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) | Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) | |
|---|---|---|
| In the National Capital Region | widespread and common, as across eastern forests | rare |
| Length, nose to tail | about 10 inches | about 12 inches |
| Colors | white belly, tan or brown back | white-and-gray belly, reddish back |
| Diet | omnivore | herbivore: mainly seeds, nuts and fungi |
| Habitat | eastern forests; copes with changing, fragmented woods | a smaller, more northern range, usually conifer forests with dense canopy |
| Status | abundant | protected in several states after habitat loss and population decline |
Southern flying squirrels are also unusually talkative, with more types of call than many squirrels — some in the ultrasonic range, beyond human hearing.
A pink glow. Under ultraviolet light, flying squirrels' bellies fluoresce what looks to us like bubblegum pink. Scientists suspect this has to do with living in low light, where ultraviolet wavelengths are relatively plentiful, and that the glow may help the squirrels communicate or hide from predators.
In the National Capital Region's parks
Southern flying squirrels have been recorded in every park of the National Park Service's National Capital Region; northern ones have not been seen there yet. Forest fragmentation has cut the connections between wooded areas across the eastern United States, and the southern species copes with that far better.
Helping them
- Leave snags — dead trees — and big trees with roomy hollows, where flying squirrels nest.
- Add canopy trees to reconnect fragmented forest.
- Build a nest box at home (plans).
Further reading
- Kohler AM, Olson ER, Martin JG, Anich PS, "Ultraviolet fluorescence discovered in New World flying squirrels (Glaucomys)," Journal of Mammalogy, 2019.
- Peeples G, "Snapshot: Applying a Gentle Touch to Improving Habitat for an Endangered Flying Squirrel," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2022.
- Sharron E, "Species Spotlight: Flying Squirrels," National Park Service, 2022.
Sources
Based on "Flying Squirrels: A Field Note," by Hannah Harkness, Science Communications Intern with the National Capital Region Inventory and Monitoring Network, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words.
In these publicationsChesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical ParkAntietam National BattlefieldCatoctin Mountain ParkGeorge Washington Memorial ParkwayManassas National Battlefield ParkHarpers Ferry National Historical Park
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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