Flying squirrel

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iFlying squirrels
Fossil range: Early Oligocene - Recent

Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Subfamily:	Sciurinae
Tribe:	Pteromyini Brandt, 1855

Genera

Aeretes
Aeromys
Belomys
Biswamoyopterus
Eupetaurus
Glaucomys
Hylopetes
Iomys
Petaurillus
Petaurista
Petinomys
Pteromys
Pteromyscus
Trogopterus

The flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of squirrel (family Sciuridae). There are 43 species in this tribe, the largest of which is the woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus). The 2 species of the genus Glaucomys (Glaucomys sabrinus and Glaucomys volans) are native to North America, and it is these that are commonly meant when the name "flying squirrel" is used in English, although the term is frequently also used by Europeans to refer to the Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans).

The term "flying" is somewhat of a misnomer, since flying squirrels are actually gliders incapable of true flight. Gliding is achieved by this animal by launching off the tops of trees and extending flaps of skin stretched from arms to legs: once they have launched themselves into the air they are highly manuverable while in flight. Steering is accomplished by adjusting tautness of the patagium, largely controlled by a small cartilaginous wrist bone. The tail acts as a stabilizer in flight, much like the tail of a kite, and as an adjunct aerofoil when "braking" prior to landing on a tree trunk. When the tail has been severed from a flying squirrel it will not glide, it will fall in a pattern more similar to a leaf.

Though their lifespan is only about five years in the wild, flying squirrels often live between 10 and 15 years in captivity. This difference in lifespan is due to these creatures being important prey animals, probably the most well-known being the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Predation mortality rates in sub-adults are very high. Predators include arboreal snakes, raccoons, nocturnal owls, marten, fisher, coyote and the domestic house cat.