The common flying squirrel, or flying squirrel, is a small rodent. It belongs to the family whites. By the way, this is the only animal from the flying squirrel subfamily that lives in Russia. The flying squirrel got its name due to its amazing ability to plan from one tree to another. Now let's talk in more detail about this animal, its habits. The reader will find out who the flying squirrel is.
Description of the representative of the fauna
Flying squirrel is a medium-sized animal, an average body length of 170 mm. The tail of such a beast is quite large compared to the body. On average, its length is 120 mm. Now consider the ears and feet of the animal. The length of the foot is about 35 mm, and the ear is 18 mm. The weight of such an animal is an average of 125 grams. A hair-folded skin fold (“flying membrane”) running along the sides of the body connects the hind and forelimbs. She plays the role of a parachute. In front, the fold is supported by a bone, which extends from the wrist. The tail of the flying squirrel is long, covered with thick hair. The head of this animal is small, rounder than that of an ordinary squirrel. The ears are rounded, short, without tassels. The area around the eye is black.
Due to the fact that the animal leads a nocturnal lifestyle, he has large and bulging eyes. The coat is soft, silky, thin. It becomes especially thick and lush in the winter season. The color of the animal is light gray with a yellowish tinge. The tail is lighter than the body of the animal. The inner surface of the legs and abdomen is dull yellow-white. As a rule, the nose of the skull is shortened in squirrels. Relatively large flying squirrels have drum chambers.
Since the ordinary flying squirrel climbs trees a lot, her limb bones are elongated, especially the forearms and lower legs.
Spread
The common flying squirrel lives in the taiga and mixed forests of Eurasia. You can meet her in Finland, Mongolia, China, Korea, Latvia and Estonia.
An ordinary flying squirrel lives in hollows. It arranges its nests on trees four meters above the ground. Sometimes you can see the nests of this squirrel in the forest-steppe of Western Siberia.
What does flying squirrel eat?
The basis of the diet of this animal is the tops of shoots, pine nuts, buds of deciduous trees, coniferous seeds. In summer, the menu is a bit more diverse, various mushrooms and berries are added. Sometimes animals gnaw at a thin young bark of aspen, maple, willow and birch. Especially like flying squirrels, birch and alder earrings. Their animal even stores for the winter, folding in its hollow. There is an assumption that an ordinary flying squirrel can eat bird eggs and chicks. In general, the diet of this animal depends entirely on where it lives. For example, in the northeastern parts of the range, the animal in the winter season eats only larch buds.
Features of animal behavior
An active flying squirrel is active all year. Her lifestyle is twilight, nocturnal. Nursing females, as well as young animals appear in the daytime. As a rule, an ordinary flying squirrel spends most of his life in trees; occasionally he descends to the ground. The activity of this protein sharply decreases in the cold season. Note that the beast does not hibernate, but when it is frosty on the street, it spends time in the nest using food supplies that it made in the warm weather.
Social structure
In one nest, as a rule, two flying squirrels live. These animals are non-aggressive, social. The only one who can be aggressive is a nursing female.
When does the animal breed? How many babies are in the offspring?
Not much is known about the reproduction of this animal. On average, two offspring are born in flying squirrels per year, each of which has three cubs. The duration of pregnancy in a female is about five weeks. In May, the first brood appears, and the second in early July.
Enemies
Unfortunately, flying squirrels have enemies. These include sable, large owls and, of course, marten.
What is the benefit and harm to humans from this animal
The fur of the animal is of little value. Despite its softness and beauty, it has fragile, thin mezra. This is the reason for the difficulty of use. In captivity, an ordinary flying squirrel takes root very poorly. That's because she needs space in order to jump.
Important Notice About Strength
Due to the fact that the number of such an animal is everywhere decreasing, an ordinary flying squirrel is officially recognized as a disappearing species. The Red Book of Belarus has this beast in its lists. Flying squirrel belongs to the third category of protection. In 1993, the squirrel was listed in the Red Book. In addition, the flying squirrel can be found in the lists of a number of Red Books of Russia.
Interesting Facts
- Do you know that a flying squirrel can cover a distance of up to fifty meters along a descending parabolic curve? To make the jump, the squirrel climbs to the top of the tree.
- During the flight, the flying squirrel forms a triangular silhouette. During this period, the hind limbs of the animal are pressed to the tail, and the front ones are widely spaced. A flying squirrel maneuvers, changing the tension of the membranes. During the flight, it can change direction even by 90 degrees. The role of the brake, as a rule, performs the tail. Before landing, an ordinary flying squirrel takes an upright position, clinging to a tree with four paws, then it runs across to the other side of the trunk. Thanks to this maneuver, she can dodge feathered predators.
- It is very difficult to notice this animal in the forest. Thanks to the protective color of the fur, the flying squirrel can merge with the trunks of aspen (they are gray). On earth, an animal rarely leaves traces, and even then it is very difficult to understand whose they are, since they resemble squirrels.
- Flying squirrel can chatter. The voice of the animal in its habitats can be heard late in the evening.
