RANGE:

One of the most common mammals in Australia, the sugar glider ranges across the southeast, east and nearly the entire north coastal regions inland to the mountains, plus a large part of Indonesia (New Guinea, Borneo).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

The gliding membranes are hardly noticeable until they jump. On jumping, the animal extends all four legs and stretches the loose but muscularly controlled folds of skin into what some describe as a parachute.

One observer noted that "they are a strange sight; it seems as if the animal has lost all its body weight and turned into a towel." The action of the glide is less like a parachute and more like a paper airplane.