Southern flying squirrels have grey-brown fur on top with darker flanks and are a cream colored underneath.

Southern flying squirrels show substantial homing abilities and can return to their nests if artificially removed to distances of up to a kilometer.

[7] The squirrel acts as host to the Rickettsia prowazekii bacteria and transmission to humans is hypothesized to occur via aerosolized feces of the fleas and lice associated with G.

[10] Just before reaching a tree, they raise their flattened tails that abruptly changes their trajectory upwards, and point all of their limbs forward to create a parachute effect with the membrane in order to reduce the shock of landing.

[11] The limbs absorb the remainder of the impact, and the squirrels immediately run to the other side of the trunk or to the top of the tree in order to avoid any potential predators.

[11] Although graceful in flight, they are very clumsy walkers, and if they happen to be on the ground in the presence of danger, they will prefer to hide rather than attempt to escape.

[9] Although southern flying squirrels may be present in heavily wooded suburban regions, they never occur in large numbers in these areas.

[12][14][15] Near the northern limit of the southern flying squirrels distribution, home range increases in size as mast-producing trees become more dispersed.

[12] Male home ranges contain more food as they have been associated with a higher than expected number of large red oaks and white oaks, whereas female home ranges contain lower food resources and more abundant nesting sites possibly to avoid contact with other squirrels while raising the young.

[21] Although southern flying squirrels do show a preference for relatedness, they are tolerant of nonrelated but familiar individuals, possibly because in addition to providing heat energy for the aggregation, outsiders will promote outbreeding.

Muul[24] stated that communal nesting may be detrimental during warm weather and is unnecessary in the southern parts of the species range.

[23][26] Winterrowd and Weigl[27] performed experiments in controlled conditions to determine whether memory, smell, random searching, or problem solving played a major role in retrieving hidden food.

[27] However, once placed in a wet environment, smell becomes an effective means to retrieve the food and decreases the individuals' advantage over the other members of the group.

[27] Experiments to determine whether a squirrel would steal from others in the group revealed that no particular pattern exists and that the hidden food is recovered according to its availability.