Northern Flying Squirrels
By: Elyse N.
Basic Information
Common name: Northern Flying Squirrel
I chose the Northern flying squirrel because it isn't an average animal because of it's ability to fly or "GLIDE" makes them special. The Northern flying squirrel's genus species is Glaucomys sabrinue. What makes the flying squirrel an "animal" is that it is a multicellular organism.
External Characteristics
The average height of a Northern flying squirrel is ten to twelve inches in total length including their tail. Seventy-five to one-hundred fourty grams is their average weight which is half the weight of a red squirrel. The Northern flying squirrel has soft, dense, and silky fur that is usually black or brown. They have four small paws, two big ears, big black eyes, and a tiny pink or brown nose. They use their long, fluffy, broad tail as a steering mechanism when in flight. Talking about their ability to "FLY" two large folds of fully haired skin or their patagias (one on each side) gives them the ability to GLIDE.
Internal Characteristics
The Northern flying squirrel is a vertebrate because it has a spine and a skeletal system. These flying squirrels also have a digestive system due to them having a stomach, and a large and small intestines. They also have a circulatory system, and nervous system as well because they have a brain and heart. Their respiratory system allows the mother to carry her babies one at a time, at one point, to move them before they are ready to venture out of the nest where they were cared for and nurtured. The mother of baby flying squirrels cares for her young alone because the male leaves after they mate.
Behaviors
Northern flying squirrels are omnivorous. Their eating habits consists of buds, catkins, cones, fruits, hypogenous fungi, insects, lichens, seeds, staminate, and treesap. Glaucomys sabrinue mate during the late winter to early spring. The mother nurses her young for eight to ten weeks. After a Northern flying squirrel's first year of life they are considered "adults". Since the Northern flying squirrel is nocturnal there is little known about their defenses. A Northern flying squirrel's average life span is three to four years but, sometimes in captivity they may live up to ten years.
Other Information
The Glaucomys sarbine is an endangered speices since around July 1, 1985. A family of flying squirrels are called sciuridae (or squirrels) and they live in a temperate, hardwood - coniferous forest like habitat.
Work Cited
"Flying Squirrels - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZgcBUx0Vwg.
"A Squirrel Place F.A.Q. Section." The Squirrel Place. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. <http://www.squirrels.org/faq.html#Q24>.
Redirect. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. <http://bss.sfsu.edu/>.
"Organism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism.
Comments (3)
emn007 said
at 12:40 pm on Nov 22, 2011
emn007 said
at 12:41 pm on Nov 22, 2011
kmg077 said
at 1:01 pm on Dec 9, 2011
I like the picture on top. It looks like he is hiding. <3
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