📸 PhotoPhoto: Ken Thomas · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Southern Flying Squirrel
Glaucomys volans (Southern Flying Squirrel · アメリカモモンガ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 90 g equals one and a half chicken eggs (about 60 g each), and its total length of 28.5 cm is almost the same as a 30 cm ruler (Comparison).
- 💡 It is sometimes kept as a pet and traded internationally (Animal Diversity Web).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Southern Flying Squirrel is a small flying squirrel of eastern North American forests that is strictly nocturnal and huddles together in shared nests during winter.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its ears are pink and hairless on the inside and covered in grayish-brown hair on the outside. Average total length measured 228 mm in Indiana individuals and 221 mm in Florida individuals.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Eating insects, nuts, bird eggs, berries, carrion, and seeds, it is among the most carnivorous members of the squirrel family. It forages within 160 m of its nest and breeds twice in 1 year.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2016) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/9240/115091392
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1001622
- • iucnredlist.org — 115091392
- • wikidata.org — Q913350
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Southern Flying Squirrel-27527-1.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Glaucomys volans
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Chloé Schmidt · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.