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Queensland Mammals

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The yellow-bellied glider feeding on sweet Red Mahogany sap. The yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis) is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in a narrow range of native eucalypt forests down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria. The yellow-bellied glider, also known as the fluffy glider in Far North Queensland. It is the largest of the four Petaurus gliders that occur in Australia. It lives in family groups, is the most vocal, is an extremely accomplished glider and can readily be found at trees which it taps for sap. Studies have confirmed the dependence of the Yellow-bellied Glider in north Queensland on the sugary sap of the Red Stringybark or Red Mahogany (Eucalyptus resinifera) and the den hollows of Rose Gum (Eucalyptus grandis) and that conservation is intimately associated with the management of these two tree species. Two genetically distinct populations are recognised in Queensland, the sub-species Petaurus australis reginae as far north as Mackay and an isolated population in Far North Queensland referred to as Petaurus australis (Wet Tropics, or northern subspecies).