![flying chipmunk flying chipmunk](https://www.jfoakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Squirrels-400x400.png)
“I have personally handled around 30 of those.
![flying chipmunk flying chipmunk](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-prKVWDquLaU/T1MJzRQphyI/AAAAAAAAATw/uvAnFgU5r2s/s1600/chipmonk+close+up.jpg)
“That gives you a good idea of how rare they are,” Turner says. “It is a mammal that is very secretive and rare, so they get ignored by a lot of people because it takes a lot of time and work to figure them out, but I like the challenge.”įewer than 50 northern flying squirrels have been located in Pennsylvania since 1995. “The northern flying squirrel is very rare and very difficult to find,” Turner reports. He and his university colleagues wrote a grant to obtain funding specifically to determine the distribution of the northern flying squirrel in Pennsylvania. He has been studying northern flying squirrels since 1995 when he was a part of a study team at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Greg Turner, the PGC state mammologist, is one of those people. However, there is a group of people determined to halt the decline in the northern flying squirrel numbers and, if possible, increase their population in the state through forest management. Because of human behavior in destroying their habitat, the conifer forest, they have been wiped out in Pennsylvania almost entirely.” “It is a native Pennsylvania species that was here prior to the European colonization. Williams, information and education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC). “The northern flying squirrel, which is listed as endangered in Pennsylvania, is a part of the state’s historic population of wildlife,” says William M.
![flying chipmunk flying chipmunk](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5b/24/b7/5b24b7513b30f6a6323dc498c46b03e4.jpg)
The northern flying squirrel, on the other hand, is in trouble despite its almost-identical appearance. Once found only in the southern United States, they have slowly but steadily crept northward until they have taken over much of Pennsylvania. When they are seen gliding from treetop to treetop to rooftop in the darkness, they are often mistaken for a bat or a bird. However, these nocturnal creatures go about their lives seldom noticed - unless they inadvertently end up in a chimney with no way out.
Flying chipmunk skin#
The southern flying squirrel, with its disproportionately large eyes, conspicuous skin flaps and a flattened tail to assist in gliding, is prevalent in much of the state. While to the average Pennsylvanian, it appears as if one could easily be substituted for the other, they are very different. It is almost impossible to distinguish between a northern flying squirrel and a southern flying squirrel without close observation of the hairs on their chest (if the hairs are white from tip to base, it’s a southern flying squirrel if they are white at the tip, but darker at the base, it’s a northern flying squirrel).