Talk:Flying squirrel

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[edit] Revert

Note to anonymous user 128.223.208.174: Your edits on this page were factually incorrect and have been reverted. Flying squirrels neither have powered flight, nor are they capable of soaring. See any natural history book - or watch a flying squirrel. seglea 20:48, 23 May 2004 (UTC) And they are so CUTE!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.199.80.180 (talk) 12:46, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article name

Shouldn't this be at Flying squirrel? The article name isn't a formal title, and almost everything linked here is through the aforementioned redirect. --Slowking Man 06:25, Sep 23, 2004 (UTC)

There aren't any pictures!

I agree that it should be at Flying squirrel. --Aranae 00:59, Mar 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article scope

It seems to me that this article should deal specifically with the Petauristinae and that a link should go to the Anomaluridae. The anomalures are never in my experience called "flying squirrels", but are always called scaly-tailed flying squirrels, scaly-tails, or anomalures. Any comments on this proposal? --Aranae 00:59, Mar 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Is this really a taxonomic group?

Is the "Petauristinae" really monophyletic? Given the number of times that gliding has evolved in small mammals, wouldn't it be just as likely that several different groups of squirrels in different parts of the world independently started gliding, rather than that they all form one group? john k 05:04, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

The Petauristinae is monophyletic, but the the Sciurinae is not. Flying squirrels evolved from within the other sciurids. --Aranae 03:34, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

Huh. Why are they so strangely distributed, then? john k 03:40, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Petauristinae or Pteromyinae?

According to the Animal Diversity Web and the German and French correspondents to this page, the subfamily of flying squirrels is called Pteromyinae, not (as here) Petauristinae? Pteromyinae gets 481 Google hits and Petauristinae gets 605, which is probably not a significant difference. Is one more correct than the other? --Angr/_{tɔk tə mi} 18:43, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Boring picture?

Geez, you'd think people would expect something more than a mouse on a tree in a FLYING squirrel article. Come on, put up a picture of one that's actually FLYING.

• Here you are:Flying SquirrelThis is a rather well-taken photograph. I have no idea how to put it up on the article. I am not a fan of scripting!<:-D Here is a strobe photo of a squirrel's launch, and other pics.

Haha, this is great! I remember a picture just like this one from our science book in 3rd grade. If I had any idea how this who wiki-whatchcallit worked I would put up this picture.

They don't fly. But, yes, there's also a nice picture of one gliding at e-nature.com. 'Cept I don't know how to put pictures on...61.230.72.211 09:28, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and flying squirrels are not mice.61.230.72.211 09:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I've replaced the previous photo of G. volans with one of a squirrel in flight. Does that look any better? —Michael Hays 00:40, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Looks better. Too bad we can't get more diversity than just Glaucomys, but the only other options are illustrations. --Aranae 01:36, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Here's plenty of links:

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]
• [4]
• This one's not gliding, but it's CUTE!
• [5]

There. That should be enough. Dora Nichov 02:45, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How does a flying squirrel meet it's 4 basic needs?

How does a flying squirrel meet it's 4 basic needs? You know AIR, WATER, SHELTER, AND FOOD.

• Air: They breathe like other mammals
• Water: Not really sure, but I suppose they drink no different from others, though they may get most of their water from their food
• Shelter: Flying squirrels live in hollow trees mostly
• Food: They eat mostly nuts, berries, mushrooms, etc, but will often go for a bit of meat when they can get it. Surprisingly for North America's smallest squirrel, southern flying squirrels will sometimes attack voles and mice!

Dora Nichov 08:18, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Volaticotherium

Volaticotherium was by no means a flying squirrel. It was a prehistoric mammal that was able to glide like flying squirrels, sugar gliders, colugos , and anomalures. If you read the Nature article, the authors describe it as capable of "gliding flight" and do not at all suggest it was capable of powered (true) flight. Unfortunately the press has twisted around the term "flight" and are implying that it could fly in the same sense that birds can fly which is not true based on the original article. Also it was not a sciurid, rodent, or even eutherian, but instead falls evolutionarily basal among the Theria. Its connection to flying squirrels is merely that it convergently evolved a similar gliding mechanism. Stating that flying squirrels flew before birds is absolutely false as Volaticotherium is equally closely related to flying squirrels, humans, bats, whales, and kangaroos. A link to the Volaticotherium article in a "see also" section or a discussion of it in the context of the evolution of gliding in mammals would be a reasonable addition to this article, but the recent added statement is simply false and I am reverting it again. --Aranae 02:04, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Norturnalism

No mention of nocturnalism and their enormous eyes? The species of flying squirrel where I live display both. The first time I saw one I was frightened half to death!! Pendragon39 23:59, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lifespan

When you say "the lifespan is 3 years but in captivity up to 15 because they're such important prey animals" you're confusing lifespan with life expectancy. Lifespan is a maximum, life expectancy is an average that utilizes the mortality rate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 05:42, 10 March 2007 (UTC).