Red and White Flying Squirrel: The Size of a Cat, and They Can Fly! (8 photos)

Flying squirrels are living proof that laziness is the engine of progress. Climb down from one tree to get to another? Nonsense, we'll jump! Can't jump far enough? Let's make a parachute out of skin and fly! Among other rodents, the red-and-white flying squirrel has advanced further than its fellows. And literally: the animal can fly hundreds of meters!





Get impressionable pregnant children away from the screen! Here the squirrel shows off her belly, you can get a fit of affection!

The whole secret is in its huge size. The red-and-white flying squirrel is one of the largest fur paragliders in the world! The rodent is the size of a small cat: maximum weight is up to four kilograms, the span of the legs is up to 60 cm. These are record figures not only among squirrels, but also among all flying and gliding mammals on the planet!



I'm not fat! I just have a fluffy bone!

Finding the furry pilot is not an easy task. Firstly, the rodent settled in China and Taiwan. Secondly, it does not hop around cities and parks: the flying squirrel has climbed into mountain subtropical forests at a height of up to 3,500 meters. And most importantly: it does not stick its nose out of the hollow during the day. Eagles and hawks do not sleep, but a flying squirrel in flight is a delivery of meat straight to its claws - the furry pilot has little control over the controls.





Night feeding mode is activated.

At night, the air is fresher and it is easier to breathe. With the onset of darkness, rodents go out to hunt. Luckily, their large eyes are well-adapted to navigation in the dark. Squirrels are firmly rooted in sweets and vitamins — they munch on berries, fruits, and nuts. Sometimes they dilute their diet with more meaty creatures — insects and other small arthropods.



Your face when your friends are eating treats, and you're on your first day of switching to healthy eating.

To avoid getting their paws dirty on the ground, the animals prefer to hover from tree to tree — they don't go lower than three meters from the ground. They are helped by skin folds — scientists call them patagium. In rodents, they are located between the limbs and straighten out during the jump.



While we are planning to go on a trip, the flying squirrel plans to fly around Asia every day!

Without such equipment, the squirrel's flight would be strictly vertical. But with its own parachute, the flying squirrel can soar as much as 400 meters! All that remains is to steer the course with its long tail and group correctly so as not to ram the evergreen oaks.



Each flight of a flying squirrel ends like a superhero landing!

But it won't be possible to fly away from problems forever, sooner or later instincts will kick in, and the squirrels will think about a family. This happens twice a year - in August and December. Long before the new generation is born, the squirrels need to solve the housing issue. Fortunately for them, the real estate crisis has not reached the forests. The newly-married couple builds a nest with all the amenities in a suitable hollow, where the mother will move in 45-50 days after the last meeting with the father. The male will not help his lady love in raising the offspring.



I wonder when Seryozha will return with bread?

A mother squirrel gives birth to one, rarely two squirrels. Flying squirrels take not by quantity, but by quality. Young ones can stay on the territory of their mother for a long time until they fly to their own lands. Thus, scientists observed a mother squirrel and her daughter, who lived in the same hollow for 16 months! For reference: flying squirrels gain independence in the second or third month of life.



A happy mother of two little angels got out for a few seconds to get some fresh air. Let's congratulate her!

For rodents, such a number of cubs is critically small. Why did the flying squirrels take such risks? Because people helped them! The red-and-white flying squirrel is one of the few species for which human activity has opened up a horizon of opportunities. Many of the rodent's natural enemies could not stand the pressure of civilization. But the flying squirrel did not feel it at all. Thus, the furry paraglider maintains a stable population without burdening itself with a large number of offspring.