Informational sites that focus on Sugar Gliders as pets. The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small arboreal marsupial that is found in the forests of Australia, as well as in Tasmania, New Guinea, and the neighboring islands of Indonesia. In the wild, sugar gliders are tree dwelling creatures, often living in groups of 20 to 40. They are active by night when they hunt for insects and small vertebrates and feed on the sweet sap of certain species of eucalyptus, acacia and gum trees. Sugar gliders are so named for their preference for sweet foods and their ability to glide through the air like a flying squirrel. They travel through the midnight tree tops by launching themselves into the air and transforming into a living kite by spreading out their sails of skin. They can make glides of over one hundred meters and use their long tails as rudders to control the direction of flight. They have even been known to snatch an insect out of the air in mid flight. This gliding is made possible by a thin membrane of skin called a patagium that extends between their front and back legs.