The flying phalanger of Australia is a small, furry marsupial related to the possum. Although it looks like a flying squirrel, it is not.
When this small, fuzzy creature wants to collect materials for a nest, it gathers a bundle of leaves together, wraps its tail around them, and takes them home.
The phalanger looks like a flying squirrel. In fact, it glides through trees in the same way the flying squirrel does, although the two are in no way related. Phalangers are marsupials, which means they carry their young in a pouch.
They spend their daytime hours curled up asleep in holes in trees. These nests are generally at least 50 feet above ground. At night, when the phalangers feed on the leaves, berries, and nuts that make up their diet, they glide from tree to tree. One phalanger is known to have glided 300 feet on a single jump.
Sometimes a phalanger will be killed by a red fox when it lands on the ground. Otherwise, their main enemies are owls. The body length of a phalanger ranges from three to eighteen inches.
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