#glaucomys

MAMMAL MONDAY

Humboldt’s flying squirrel

Glaucomys oregonensis

—

Why the future of West Virginia's rare flying squirrel looks bright | MNN

The squirrel — called the Virginia northern flying squirrel or more commonly the West Virginia northern flying squirrel (WVNFS) — was listed as an endangered species in 1985. But restoration efforts have helped the species rebound, and in 2013 the West Virginia northern flying squirrel joined an exclusive group of success stories — species that have been taken off the endangered list.

Since then, restoration work has ramped up. Now a new report assessing the status of the squirrel in its first five years since coming off of the endangered species list indicates there are many reasons to be optimistic.

Survival of the squirrel depends on survival of its habitat — red spruce-northern hardwood forest, which consists of red spruce, fir, beech, yellow birch, sugar or red maple, hemlock and black cherry. It used to be that the iconic, high-elevation red spruce forest blanketed hundreds of thousands of acres of the Central Appalachians. But much of that was destroyed in the late 1800s and early 1900s due to logging and wildfire.

"This habitat is really special," said Barb Douglas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service senior endangered species biologist. "There's some old-growth left, but a lot of it was cut over at the turn of the 20th century."

"If you go into a really old-growth spruce forest, it's mossy and green and smells good," added Laura Hill, a retired fish and wildlife biologist for the service. "It's surreal. It's quiet, the ground is spongy and soft. It's calming and soothing."

In the decades preceding and following the listing of the West Virginia northern flying squirrel, protection and restoration efforts were successful in bringing the red spruce-northern hardwood forest habitat back to more than 173,000 acres in West Virginia.

And the work didn't stop when the squirrel was taken off the endangered species list in 2013. In the following five years, more than 7,455 acres of West Virginia northern flying squirrel habitat has been created, protected or restored. Additionally, even without formal protections, federal biologists have coordinated with project proponents to keep habitat loss at a negligible level of 285 acres — amounting to 26 times more habitat saved than lost.

rodentia -> clade sciuromorpha -> family sciuridae -> genus glaucomys (glaucomys sabrinus)

A Sharp-Eyed Squirrel, Leaping Into the Darkness

Few of us ever get a good view of a flying squirrel, but then again, not many of us know they truly exist. Not unlike its cartoon depiction, as the brainy, be-goggled sidekick of Bullwinkle the Moose, the Southern flying squirrel is an impressively well-adapted resident of New York City. With a preference for older beech and oak woods, these squirrels are primarily nocturnal. An uncommon habitat and our very urban instinct to avoid late-night walks through obscure woodlands make finding one a deliberate effort.

The flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) does not actually fly — it glides. When a squirrel leaps from its perch in a tall tree, it spreads its limbs, stretching out its two patagia (thick, furred membranes that extend from its wrists to its ankles). In this way, a squirrel less than 10 inches long (including a tail almost half that length) can, in a single bound, cover 150 feet or more, gliding through the treetops effortlessly.

A nighttime jump through a dense canopy of leaves and branches requires keen senses, and the squirrel is suitably equipped. The enormous, soft brown eyes that make them so irresistible to humans are actually a significant part of the squirrels’ survival strategy. A squirrel triangulates with movements of its head before making its longest leaps, suggesting an advanced spatial sense.

The squirrels are also equipped with some of the longest whiskers in the squirrel world. These long vibrissae point forward in flight, assisting in the navigation of the tight spaces among leaves and branches. The whiskers are also useful for negotiating small crevices and nesting cavities, where little or no light ever shines.

The squirrel’s flattened tail is more accurately described as a counterbalance than a rudder, and can break away, like the tails of some lizards and salamanders. An attacking predator may be left holding only a piece of writhing tail, rather than a tasty squirrel meal, if it grabs it at the wrong spot. Unfortunately, unlike lizards and salamanders, a flying squirrel cannot grow its tail back; it simply adapts to its loss.

It is hard to say how many flying squirrels populate New York City’s five boroughs, but surveys by the parks department in conjunction with universities and environmental groups have identified the tiny squirrels in Forest Park and Alley Pond Park in Queens. Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan also has a verified population, as do Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Blue Heron Park on Staten Island. Squirrels may also glide through Pelham Bay Park’s older woods, and any of several of Staten Island’s older forests.

Flying squirrels eat a wide variety of foods, from acorns and beech nuts to fruit, mushrooms and even eggs or nestling birds. But as a general rule, they are drawn to open water, so finding woodlands near a source of fresh water is often critical to finding a flying squirrel.