The southern greater glider (''Petauroides volans''), also known as the southern and central greater glider, is a species of large gliding

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

native to the forests of southeastern Australia. It is a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

per the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

classification, but since 5 July 2022 is listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

under the

EPBC Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

in Australia. The main threats to its survival are

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and

Taxonomy

This was the first described species of '' Petauroides'', and long thought to be the only species, with '' Petauroides armillatus'' and '' Petauroides minor'' being thought to comprise a distinct subspecies of it, ''P. volans minor''; together, they were referred to as the greater glider. However, in 2012 and 2015, several field guides written by Colin Groves and/or Stephen Jackson listed the greater glider as being split into three species, confirmed by a 2020 analysis which found significant genetic and morphological differences between the three species. The

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

now considers the two subspecies to be distinct from ''P. volans''. The Australian Government's Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) refers to the animal as the greater glider (southern and central).

Distribution

Prior to being split, this species was thought to be found throughout eastern Australia, but recent taxonomic revisions and splits indicate it occupies a much smaller range. Although Jackson and Groves listed the species as ranging from

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

(

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

) south to Victoria,

genetic analysis Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts ...

by McGregor ''et al''. has found this species to not exist near the alleged northern edge of its range, with that species actually being ''P. armillatus''. It is now thought to range from Victoria north to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, but due to insufficient sampling from New South Wales, the exact border between the range of ''P. volans'' and ''P. armillatus'' remains unknown as of 2020.

Description

This is the largest species of '' Petauroides'' and one of the world's largest

gliding mammal A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. This trait has appeared by evolution many times, without any single common ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times in separate animals: insec ...

s, growing to the size of a house cat. Its body spans . Its furry tail reaches up to long, but is not

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origin ...

. The gliding membrane stretches from the forearm to the

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

. Its ears are large and furry and it has a short

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, beak or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the n ...

. The glider weighs . The females are larger than males. Its thick fur, which is white or cream underneath and "varies from dark grey, dusky brown through to light mottled grey and cream" above, makes it look bigger than it is. This species displays the famous polymorphism that greater gliders are well-known for, having a dark morph that is almost black in colour with a white underside, and a light morph that is grey and white with a white underside.

Threats and conservation

Of the three greater glider species, this one is thought to be the most threatened and to have suffered the sharpest declines in population. Prior to late 2019, significant

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks2019–20 Australian bushfire season The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019. , fires this season have burned an estimated , destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated o ...

; for example, over half of of forest in Victoria set aside for glider protection are thought to have burned in the fires. Logging may have made these fires worse by allowing brushfires to burn hotter, and changing the composition of the landscape to less palatable food trees.

Climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

may also threaten the species in some regions; rising night-time temperatures may cause the cold-adapted gliders to lose their appetite, leading to starvation. Conservation actions required to save the species include reconsidering the species'

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

and banning logging and land clearance for

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

Ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

to view the species may be a potential source of conservation income as well. Notably during 2022, in the wake of the bushfires the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, Greening Australia, and the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

-Australia teamed up to place more than 200 high-tech thermally appropriate nesting boxes at Glenboc, in Victoria's

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...

, and inside the

Tallaganda National Park Tallaganda is a national park in New South Wales, Australia. The national park gives its name to ''Phallocephale, Phallocephale tallagandensis'', a species of Onychophora, velvet worm that is known to occur there. Tallaganda offers many oppo ...

near Braidwood, NSW. The boxes utilise insulation, air gaps, and heat-reflective, fire-resistant non-toxic coatings, in order to keep the animals and at the optimal temperature, and best imitate a

tree hollow A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows form in many species of trees. They are a prominent feature of n ...

.Endangered greater gliders adapt quickly to nest boxes after Black Summer
Alasdair McDonald,

ABC News Online ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...

, 2023-01-13

Classifications

The southern glider is a

per the

classification. On 5 July 2022 the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

declared the animal to be an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

under the ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

'', as it becomes more threatened by logging and climate change. Logging is regulated by state governments; however, environment minister

Tanya Plibersek Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for the Environment and Water from 2022 to 2025. She was ...

said that the federal government was helping to fund ten projects whose goal is to help protect the species. It is listed as vulnerable under the '' Nature Conservation Act 2014'' (ACT); Nature Conservation (Animals) Regulation 2020 (Queensland) and ''

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

'' (which includes both the southern and central and northern greater gliders); and ''

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Parliament designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...

'' (Vic); and three subpopulations are listed as endangered under the ''

Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) The ''Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016'' (''BC Act'') is a state-based act of parliament in New South Wales (NSW). Its long title is ''An Act relating to the conservation of biodiversity; and to repeal the Threatened Species Conservation Act ...

''.

Taxonomy

Distribution

Description

Threats and conservation

Classifications

References

Further reading