Schoinobates The greater gliders are three species of large gliding marsupials in the genus Petauroides, all of which are found in eastern Australia.

Their body is covered with a shaggy coat of fur that increases their apparent size, and the tail is long and bushy, ranging from 44 to 53 centimetres (17 to 21 in).

Each side of the body bears membranes stretching between the elbow and the ankle that give these animals the ability to perform controlled glides.

[2] Heat management in the greater gliders is performed by licking extremities and the ventral body surface, and direct evaporation is the main method of cooling.

[7] These gliders can digest low nutrient foliage, specifically eucalypt leaf matter, which contains a variety of phenolic and terpenoid compounds and a high concentration of lignified fibre.

[8] Their guts have a specialized caecum that contains a population of bacteria that ferment food residues that remain undigested in the small intestine.

[10] Mature females will give birth to a single joey each year which is typically born in late autumn or early winter.

[11] Greater gliders are found in southern Queensland,[12] eastern Australia,[13] southeastern New South Wales,[14] and the montane forests of the Victorian central highlands.

[15] It is usually tracked via spotlighting on transects (considered to underestimate the actual population size), radio tagging and owl-call playback.

Furthermore, the presence of E. cypellocarpa appears to improve the quality of habitat for the greater gliders in forests dominated by E. obliqua.

[16] The greater gliders are primarily nocturnal, spending the night foraging in the highest parts of the forest canopy.

When a strong light is directed at the eyes of a glider, the observer will see two bright red orbs reflecting back.

[26] The breeding season for greater gliders is relatively brief, lasting from February to May, with births occurring between April and June.

[3] At birth, the young weighs only around 0.27 grams (0.0095 oz), but it does not begin to leave the pouch for about four months, by which time it is already furred and well developed.

[28] Fossils of greater gliders are known from the late Pleistocene onwards, and show that the animal was once more widespread and inhabited other areas including parts of South Australia.