The Greater Glider is a marsupial that lives in the trees of Australia. As a rare species, it is known for its gentle nature, plump body resembling that of a young bear, large ears, flat nose, and lack of a tail, all covered in short, dense gray-brown fur.
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(Photo: apus.ru) |
Their chest, belly, inner legs, and inner ear are a bright gray color. They have a body length of about 80 cm and weigh around 15 kg. With thick limbs and sharp claws, they are excellent climbers, spending almost all day in the trees and rarely coming down to the ground. The Greater Glider primarily feeds on eucalyptus leaves, which provide sufficient moisture for their bodies, leading to their name in local Aboriginal languages, which means “the one that does not drink.”
During the day, the Greater Glider curls up in eucalyptus trees, only coming down in the evening to eat. Their diet is quite limited as they predominantly prefer eucalyptus leaves, despite Australia having over 300 species of eucalyptus, they only consume 12. They particularly enjoy the Rose Gum, the Mountain Gum, and the Spotted Gum species. An adult Greater Glider can eat up to 1 kg of eucalyptus leaves each day. The aromatic oils in the eucalyptus leaves give them a pleasant scent.
Every summer marks the mating season for the Greater Glider; females are pregnant for about a month before giving birth, typically to a single offspring, with twins being a rare occurrence. Newborns are about 2 cm in size, resembling small caterpillars, and they crawl into their mother’s pouch to nurse. After 5-6 months, they can grow to 16 cm but remain dependent on their mother. They begin foraging independently at around one year old and can live for approximately 12 years.
(Photo: geocities)
