Monday 15 October 2007

Squirt : Notre petit Planeur de Sucre


La soirée passée, Madame a trouvé un Planeur de Sucre de bébé dans le salon. Il s'était attaché sur le dos d'un de nos chats, Lillipilli. Nous l'avons nommé, "Squirt".
Il avait probablement été jeté du dos de sa mère; une occurrence commune parmi cette espèce. Tout à fait par hasard la baie de l'arbre Lillipilli est des aliments préférés du Planeur de Sucre.

Le phalanger volant (Petaurus breviceps), aussi appelé le sucre volant ou planeur de sucre (traduction directe littérale de l'anglais), est un petit possum planeur originaire d'Australie de l'Est et du Nord, la Nouvelle-Guinée, et l'archipel Bismarck, et introduit en Tasmanie.
Le planeur de sucre mesure environ 16 à 20 cm, est doté d'une queue légèrement plus longue que le corps, et pèse de 90 à 150 g. Son pelage est gris-perlé, avec des taches noires et blanc-cassé. Les oreilles sont grandes, droites et dépourvues de poil. La queue est effilée et le dernier quart de la créature est noir, souvent avec un bout blanc. Le museau est arrondi et court. Les yeux sont grands et foncés.

Last evening, Madame found a baby Sugar Glider in the lounge room. It had attached itself to the back of one of our cats, Lillipilli. We have called him, "Squirt".
He had probably been thrown off its mother's back; a common occurrence amongst this species. Coincidentally the berry of the Lillipilli tree is a favourite food of the Sugar Glider.
The Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small gliding possum native to eastern and northern mainland Australia, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago, and introduced to Tasmania.

23 comments:

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Hi Squirt. Madame you are braver than i. Pour little thing though losing its mummy. Now he/she has you to look after it! Ahh.

By the way did you see we won the rugby? lol yay!

Anonymous said...

I have no idea what it is but it is small and cute and looking for mother.

M.Benaut said...

Seems that the Union Jack is flapping in gaie Paris, Lynn.
Hope that petit-ami of yours, got one in !!

Monsieur le Président,
If you tickle, "sugar glider" into Wikipedia, you can find out about these cute little critters.

Anonymous said...

Lynn, the little fellow has been adopted by a wildlife rescue worker from Warrawong Sanctuary - just around the corner from us. He was collected at midnight last night by the owner of the Sanctuary and place on top of a heated wheat bag and wrapped in a soft towel. "Squirt" is now sleeping his days away in a beanie hung between Tanya's breasts - a nice warm spot - and being fed a milk mixture by eye dropper. He's one very lucky baby. Sadly, his little brother didn't fare quite as well.

Anonymous said...

Lynn, I have to say that our cat, Lillipilli is quite a big girl and the possum obviously thought that she would make an ideal mother substitute. However, Lillipilli was running around and around in circles, trying to get the little thing off her back. At first I thought it was a rat and bravely put my hand out to save Lilli from discomfort but instead found this dear little possum. I held him close and covered him with my dressing gown, stroking his head until he stopped quivering with fear and shock. After a while, he was quite comfortable and snoozy in his makeshift bed. It was such a treat!

Anonymous said...

After a bit more research - I'm beginning to think that "Squirt" is a baby ringtail possum rather than a sugar glider. It seems that the white tip on the tail is the identifying factor. Still trying to find photos on the internet to confirm!

M. CHRISTOPHE said...

Very nice discovery...we doesn't know this animal in Europe, it seems so cute...

Anonymous said...

Oui, Laurent - ils sont tres mignon! Ses dents n'est pas trop longue et heureusement, ils ne mangent pas les humans!

Terroni said...

Squirt is adorable!
I'm glad to hear he found a good home :>
(Are you going to have to send the cat to therapy?)

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Ahh you're very kind, Mme. I'm sure you saved Squirt.

M: Le Petit Ami is no more... Il n'y pas un petit ami maintenant. Je suis seule. lol. MAIS...... pour le rugby, J'ai ete avec beaucoup des hommes dans le pub! Chouette, ca!

Maria said...

It occurs to me that while everyone else is oohing and aahhhing over the sweetness of this little creature...my first reaction was to shudder.

This says something rather unpleasant about me, I believe.

Jules said...

Mme benaut - luckily Benson wasn't staying with you!!! That dear little thing would have been mince meat!!!
I have rescued a few things from his lordship but most have died on me - so sad. This little bloke was very lucky and must have been hanging on for grim death - well done!!!!

Hi M Benaut- good to be back - Benson has a message for you all tomorrow!!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh Maria - I think it is because you haven't been exposed to Australian animals - you must google marsupials and check them out, they have pouches for their young - they don't harm anything and they are not vermin. They live in nests in tree holes and they eat flowers and nectar and the sap from eucalypt trees. I think your shudder was probably because he looks a tiny bit rat-like but he isn't the least bit like a rat. The mother carries her babies, usually two, on her back until they are weaned and have learnt to forage but sometimes they get shrugged off if they are too heavy and just have to fend for themselves. In this case, the cat found one of them and Squirt took the opportunity to hitch a ride home.
Incidentally, I was just out walking, collecting some kindling and saw our resident male koala - fast asleep high up in the fork of a gum tree. You must visit us down under and see the joys of our natural world.

Anonymous said...

Terroni - Lillipilli could use some therapy anyway. She was a stray who adopted us. She was a smallish kitten with a limp - obviously discarded because she was very thin - and I couldn't help but feed her. M.B said no more cats so she slept outside the front door for a year in a bed that I made for her. When the year was up and there was a nasty storm outside, I begged M.B to let her in and well, the rest is history. She is now a huge but gorgeous silver tabby with a limp. She arrives after dark and leaves at dawn but sleeps the night inside. She has chicken necks and fish and meat for dinner, with a little cheese as a bedtime snack. Dry food is always available - even our magpies like that!

Jules: Lilli is quite capable of eating one of these but is so well fed and fat and lazy these days that she usually doesn't bother. On this occasion I think she brought Squirt's brother home just to show me that she could. Naughty girl! None of the other cats hunt at night as they are usually curled up inside somewhere but if I were to lock Lilli in, she would really need therapy.
Where we live, people are generally anti-cat because they are conservation conscious but having spent a great deal of time observing the fauna and the birds and the cats, I've decided that most people don't feed their cats enough. Cats are nocturnal but with a good dinner before I go to sleep, they sleep too instead of hunting. Our magpies and the cats wander in amongst each other without batting an eyelid. Part of the reason for this is that I have named all of the magpies and the cats recognise them as family. How about that!

dive said...

That has to be the new holder of the title: "cutest creature on the internet".
Even this grouchy and embittered old man sat gooey-eyed in front of my monitor going "Aaaaaaahhhhhh."

Sally said...

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh....that's very sweet!
Sorry I haven’t visited as much as I would like lately. I have been hellish busy, not least because I am standing for election as a presidential officer in our teacher union – lots of extra campaigning work, and also trying to keep the home fires burning, and the blog going!

Sydney Daily Photo

Marie said...

So cute!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Too cute for words

Neva said...

I am not sure I could have brought myself to touch it and then pick it up....perhaps it's because I don't know what it is but it seems harmless in the photo!

Anonymous said...

...please where can I buy a unicorn?

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