Sugar Gliders Are Not Related to Flying Squirrels

Two of the most delightfully peculiar small creatures you'll discover among the trees are sugar gliders and flying squirrels. Both have long tails and large eyes, as well as huge skin flaps beneath their arms that enable them to glide from branch to branch. However, if you were unfamiliar with either species, you probably couldn't tell them apart based on a quick visual assessment.

Surprisingly, these parallels are only fleetingly present. Flying squirrels are not marsupials, although sugar gliders are, and they rear their young in pouches. There are just 6 species of sugar gliders, all of which are native to Australia, compared to 50 species of flying squirrel. Their similarities are an example of convergent evolution because, like the majority of marsupials, they developed independently of animals like flying squirrels. Contrary to popular belief, the flying squirrel is more closely linked to primates than to sugar gliders.