One of the largest flying squirrels of South-east Asia, so little studied that until recently its vulnerability to extinction had not even been assessed. In 2023 its vocalisation was recorded in the wild for the first time.
Large for a flying squirrel, with a body length of 25.5-42.6 cm, a tail of 28-52.7 cm and a weight of 1128-1250 g. There are two colour forms, one mostly black and the other orange-brown. The back, head and cheeks are dark grey to almost black, with slight pale mottling on the back in the darker form.
As a nocturnal glider, it nests by day in well-camouflaged tree hollows. It leaves hardly any ground signs; remains of fruit, nuts and other gnawed plant material beneath feeding trees are an indirect sign.
Primary and secondary forest and gardens with tree hollows, in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Frugivorous and omnivorous, with fruit, nuts and other plant matter as the basis of the diet.
Nocturnal, glides between trees using its skin membrane. Produces very few young, with litters of a single young, which keeps its populations small compared with other squirrels.
Species with insufficient data to assess its true conservation status, although it is considered probably not threatened and able to tolerate some habitat loss.
No specific threats are known, owing to the general scarcity of data on the species.
See all species accounts for rodents · Full species index
Mammaling is a free app for logging the mammals you find. You record a sighting in a moment — even if it's just a track — your life list grows, and the record becomes available to scientific and conservation projects.
It runs on your phone with nothing to install. If you like, it adds to your home screen like any other app.
Open Mammaling