sugar glider
nounEtymology This common name refers to the animal's predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel.
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Any of species Petaurus breviceps of omnivorous gliding arboreal marsupials, endemic to mainland Australia and New Guinea, and introduced to Tasmania in 1835.
- As with other exotic pets, sound husbandry is essential for captive sugar gliders to flourish.2003, Chris Pinney, The Complete Home Veterinary Guide, page 510:
- As in the eastern pygmy possum (van Tets and Hulbert 1999), this is reflected in a very low nitrogen requirement in sugar gliders (Smith and Green 1987), and probably all sap feeders.2005, C. Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, Life of Marsupials, page 209:
1 more example
- The animals on the cover of Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS are sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps). Sugar gliders are small, gray-furred creatures that grow to an adult length of six to seven-and-a-half inches.[…]This ensures that of the group will know when an outsider approaches; group members will fight off any sugar glider not bearing their scent.2012, Robin Nixon, Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS, 2nd edition, O'Reilly, page 557:
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Colloquial, Nonstandard Krefft's glider (Petaurus notatus).