It is hard to guess what a Sugar glider weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) on average weights 120 grams (0.26 lbs).
The Sugar glider is from the family Petauridae (genus: Petaurus). They can live for up to 14 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 15.2 cm (0′ 6″). On average, Sugar gliders can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 1.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its preference for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. They have very similar habits and appearance to the flying squirrel, despite not being closely related—an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as “short-headed rope-dancer”, a reference to their canopy acrobatics.The sugar glider is characterised by its gliding membrane, known as the patagium, which extends from its forelegs to its hindlegs, one on each side of its body. Gliding serves as an efficient means of reaching food and evading predators. The animal is covered in soft, pale grey to light brown fur which is countershaded, being lighter in colour on its underside.The sugar glider is endemic to parts of mainland Australia, New Guinea and certain Indonesian islands; and it was introduced to Tasmania, probably in the 1830s. It is a popular exotic pet but is prohibited in some regions, including parts of Australia and the United States.
Animals of the same family as a Sugar glider
We found other animals of the Petauridae family:
- Biak glider with a weight of 90 grams
- Mahogany glider with a weight of 361 grams
- Tate’s triok with a weight of 252 grams
- Yellow-bellied glider with a weight of 568 grams
- Striped possum with a weight of 413 grams
- Leadbeater’s possum with a weight of 137 grams
- Great-tailed triok with a size of 22.3 cm (0′ 9″)
- Long-fingered triok with a weight of 370 grams
- Northern glider with a weight of 278 grams
- Squirrel glider with a weight of 230 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Sugar glider
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Petaurus breviceps:
- Atlantic Forest climbing mouse bringing 100 grams to the scale
- Central rock rat bringing 100 grams to the scale
- Lady Burton’s rope squirrel bringing 109 grams to the scale
- Greater fairy armadillo bringing 129 grams to the scale
- Desert woodrat bringing 144 grams to the scale
- Attwater’s pocket gopher bringing 144 grams to the scale
- Blick’s grass rat bringing 128 grams to the scale
- Crest-tailed mulgara bringing 100 grams to the scale
- Fat sand rat bringing 102 grams to the scale
- Kemp’s gerbil bringing 101 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Sugar glider
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Sugar glider:
- Père David’s mole with a size of 13.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Emilia’s short-tailed opossum with a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gambian epauletted fruit bat with a size of 15.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Highland brush mouse with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Montane vole with a size of 12.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Arends’s golden mole with a size of 12.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Robust yellow bat with a size of 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Steppe pika with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-nosed mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 15.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Kimberley rock rat with a size of 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Sugar glider
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Sugar glider:
- Earless water rat
- Purple-faced langur
- Tonkin snub-nosed monkey
- Kuhl’s pipistrelle
- Tamaraw
- Atlantic white-sided dolphin
- Southern forest bat
- Taiwan vole
- Greater spot-nosed monkey
- Sheep
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Sugar glider
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Sugar glider:
- Ring-tailed vontsira with an average maximal age of 13.17 years
- Grant’s gazelle with an average maximal age of 12.67 years
- Maned sloth with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Common duiker with an average maximal age of 14.25 years
- Equatorial saki with an average maximal age of 14.83 years
- Allied rock-wallaby with an average maximal age of 13 years
- Weyns’s duiker with an average maximal age of 15.25 years
- Bates’s pygmy antelope with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Philippine tarsier with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Bioko Allen’s bushbaby with an average maximal age of 12 years