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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Monday, December 11, 2006

sugar glider

Don't you just love the name?

Sugar glider. Mmm. Wait. A what?

The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a member of the opossum family, native to Australia and Tasmania. It volplanes -- glides -- through means of loose skin along either side of its body. It can do this for up to 100 meters.

They may have been named for their liking for sweet food: nectar, sap, the occasional bug to provide contrast. They're sociable, and ought to have another sugar glider around to talk to.

They are more challenging a pet, because more wild. They need certain things in their environments and food. So you guessed it: there are some folks out there who are breeding and shipping them carelessly hither and yon. You can visit the Sugar Glider Resource Center and in short order understand why they are not happy about that.

A Pet Museum first: a recommendation for a pet NOT to have! But that's fair enough. Sugar gliders are happy at home, sailing about from tasty gum tree to tasty gum tree. Enjoy the coolness of there even being sugar gliders in the first place, and go adopt one of the kitties they have at Petsmart.

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