Yellow-bellied glider
Photo: Steve Parish Publishing
Yellow-bellied gliders depend on the sap of certain Eucalypt species for food, especially during the winter. They are choosy about the tree species that they incise for sap, usually choosing Scribbly gum, Sugar gum, Blue gum, Grey gum, and Red stringybark.
Body length 280mm; tail length 420mm; weight 550g. Cat-sized body with charcoal-coloured fur on back and yellow, orange or white belly fur. Ears large and naked (like a Brushtailed possum's ears). Gliding membrane extends from wrist to ankle.
Droppings 20mm x 9mm, look like small rough-skinned avocadoes. Loud gurgling and prolonged call, uttered in mid-glide and when resting.
Tall, open forest, usually at higher altitudes
Cats, clearing, timber harvesting which removes sap trees, fire management regimes that lead to thickening of understorey around feed trees, and rainforest encroachment into their habitat
Rare in southern Queensland. Vulnerable in north Queensland.
Sap from Eucalypts, nectar and pollen, invertebrates
Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland December 2005