Sugar glider
Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse, 1838
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps), also called the coastal sugar glider, is a marsupial mammal in the family Petauridae and the order Diprotodontia. It is a small, nocturnal and arboreal omnivore with an adult body mass of 106.3 g, and up to 127.5 g.
Quick facts about the sugar glider
Gestation lasts 16.34 days, litters hold 2 young, there are 1.3 litters per year, and sexual maturity is reached at 367 days (1.0 years). Checklists record it in Australia, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 106.3 g – 127.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 14 years – 17.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 16.3 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 9.13 months – 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.3src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the sugar glider
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the sugar glider live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The sugar glider is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the sugar glider?
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. They have very similar habits and appearance to the flying squirrel, despite not being closely related—an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as "short-headed rope-dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobatics.
The sugar glider is characterised by its pair of gliding membranes, known as patagia, which extend from its forelegs to its hindlegs. Gliding serves as an efficient means of reaching food and evading predators. The animal is covered in soft, pale grey to light brown fur which is countershaded, being lighter in colour on its underside.
The sugar glider, as strictly defined in a recent analysis, is only native to a small portion of southeastern Australia, corresponding to southern Queensland and most of New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range; the extended species group, including populations which may or may not belong to P. breviceps, occupies a larger range covering much of coastal eastern and northern Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands. Members of Petaurus are popular exotic pets.
From the Wikipedia article “Sugar glider” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugar_glider&oldid=1385040583), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the sugar glider endangered?
The sugar glider is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the sugar glider classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderDiprotodontia
- familyPetauridae
- genusPetaurus
- SpeciesPetaurus breviceps Waterhouse, 1838
Other names and names in other languages (14)
- Coastal sugar gliderEnglish
- KurzkopfgleitbeutlerGerman
- Kurzkopf-GleithörnchenbeutlerGerman
- ZuckerhörnchenGerman
- Petauro del azúcarSpanish
- Falangero Planeador del AzúcarSpanish
- SokerioravaFinnish
- Wupih sirsikIndonesian
- Petauro dello zuccheroItalian
- フクロモモンガJapanese
- SuikereekhoornDutch
- lotopałanka karłowataPolish
- Planador-de-AçúcarPortuguese
- Карликовая сумчатая летягаRussian
Relatives of the sugar glider
Other species in the same genus Petaurus.
Yellow-bellied glider
Petaurus australis
Squirrel glider
Petaurus norfolcensis
Ebony glider
Petaurus gracilis
Biak glider
Petaurus biacensis
Northern glider
Petaurus abidi
CompareSugar glider vs Yellow-bellied gliderSugar glider vs Squirrel gliderSugar glider vs Ebony gliderSugar glider vs Biak glider
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is a sugar glider?
The sugar glider is a marsupial mammal in the family Petauridae, within the order Diprotodontia.
How heavy is a sugar glider?
An adult sugar glider has a body mass of 106.3 g, with the highest value reported by our sources at 127.5 g.
What does a sugar glider eat?
The sugar glider is an omnivore.
Which countries is the sugar glider recorded in?
Checklists record the sugar glider in Australia.
Is the sugar glider endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses the sugar glider as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a sugar glider live?
The sugar glider has a lifespan of 14 years, with the highest value reported by our sources at 17.8 years.
How many young does a sugar glider have?
A sugar glider has 2 young per litter and 1.3 litters per year, after a gestation period of 16.34 days.
Who named the sugar glider?
The sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, was named by Waterhouse in 1838.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sugar-glider
“Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sugar-glider.
@misc{sugar_glider_2026,
title = {Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sugar-glider},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}