Behavioural Adaptations:
- Sugar gliders are able to semi-hibernate for no longer than 16 hours per day. Semi-hibernation aids in conserving energy during cold weather conditions or when there is lack of food. This enhances the chance of survival as lack of food and cold conditions can kill animals as small as these.
- Like owls, sugar gliders are also nocturnal. Being nocturnal disguises them in the dark making it more difficult for predators such as owls and kookaburras to see and hunt them meaning that they can collect food easier and they can avoid competition for resources from other animals. They can also escape hot weather as it is cooler at night.
Structural Adaptations:
- Sugar gliders have a gliding membrane, called the patagium which extends from their wrist to their ankles. This structure allows the sugar glider to glide from tree to tree as it forms into a rectangular shape that acts like a parachute which eliminates the chance of predators as they are in high areas and not on the ground.
- Sharp teeth are another major adaptation. Sugar gliders have two sharp incisors that aid in collecting food and are used for chewing holes in bark of trees so that honey sap as well as hidden insects can be found and consumed. This aids the survival of the sugar glider because without these sharp incisors it would be difficult for the sugar glider to get food.
Physiological Adaptations:
- Sugar gliders have developed scent glands. There is one in the middle of their forehead, one in their anal and another in the middle of their chest. Each of these have there own distinct scent. Male sugar gliders use the forehead scent gland and the scent gland in the middle of their chest to mark their territory.