Allison Bidlack first studied the Prince of Wales Island flying squirrel population while working on her master’s degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Flying squirrels don’t really fly. They leap from trees and glide as much as 300 feet to escape from predators such as owls, marten and ermine.
Bidlack said the nocturnal mammals differ from the typical daytime red squirrel in that they have a thin, furry membrane between their front and rear legs, and a flat tail that’s used as a rudder.
“It’s really neat to see. If you capture one live and then let it go, it’ll often scamper up a tree and then immediately glide as far away from you as possible to the next tree,” Bidlack said. “It might do that a couple times just to get away.”
Bidlack is now director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center in Juneau. She’s also a -read more
No comments:
Post a Comment