In the previous issue we learned of an interesting animal in southeast Asia, incorrectly named the flying lemur, because it is not a lemur at all. It is correctly called a colugo.
Australia is the home of most of the true flying (gliding) lemurs of which there are at least five varieties. These are, for the most part, cute little animals with soft pretty fur.
The largest of the lemurs (three feet long) is called the greater glider. These are usually golden brown or cinnamon red set off with a pretty white throat and underparts. Its inquisitive face is topped with wide-spread ears and large brown eyes. It has a pink button nose and a long furry tail with a feather-duster tip. The tail acts as a rudder as the lemur spreads its legs and glides through the air steering and keeping it on course. It glides from one tree to another —sometimes as much as 300 feet, dodging branches along the way. Like the pandas, they mostly eat leaves from certain eucalyptus trees.
The feather-tailed glider is the smallest of all of the lemurs. It has only about a three-inch body and a tail of the same length. This little fellow is very tidy and keeps itself clean by wetting its hands to clean its snout, ears and whole face with long strokes. Whiskers are cleaned by sliding them through its moistened hands. All of the members of the feather-tailed group, both large and small, take long rest periods during the hottest time of the year, living off accumulated fat in their tails.
Another small one is called the yellow-bellied glider and is interesting because of the bubbly whistling noise it makes while gliding though the air.
In addition there are the sugar and squirrel gliders, neatly clothed in gray fur edged in white with black on their underparts. They are very active gliders, but cannot glide as far as the “greater” species. Both the sugar and squirrel live primarily on nectar found in eucalyptus blossoms, which they lick out with their tongues. However, they like other food, too, including large and small insects and fruits.
Some animals, like the sloth, are extremely lazy and do not keep themselves clean. Others, like the wolverine, have mean tempers and like to ruin people’s property and make a terrible mess of it. It almost seems as if they want to insult the One who created and cares for them. But these lively lemurs, with good habits and clean ways, cause us to think of the Lord God’s special pleasure in creating and watching over them, as the above Bible verse expresses so well. We can take pleasure, too, in seeing the wise and loving hand of the Creator in all He has done and is doing.
(Another group of lemurs will be discussed in the next issue.)
ML-08/25/1985