All nine species of Australian glider are found in Queensland, seven of them in the south-east of the State. They range in size from the tiny feathertail glider, which can sit in a child’s hand, to the solitary nationally and regionally vulnerable greater glider.
The number of Australian glider species increased from seven to nine following the release of a new study[i] in July 2020 which showed the Sugar glider is actually three genetically distinct species: Petaurus breviceps and two new species, Krefft’s glider (Petaurus notatus) and the savanna glider (Petaurus ariel).
Update: November 2020
Researchers have recently discovered there are actually three species of greater glider, not one as previously assumed. A study of the genetics of greater gliders, published in Nature’s public access Scientific Reports journal, found distinct species in the southern, central and northern ranges.
AimsThe Queensland Glider Network (QGN) was established in early 2006 to support glider populations through communication, education, data collection, and mapping.
QGN aims to raise awareness of gliders and their habitat requirements. We want to improve community knowledge and interest in gliders. We hope to achieve by being a hub for glider conservation, research and information exchange in Queensland. We want to educate communities to enable them to support their local glider populations.
Launched in August 2020, this project will research and document the distribution and occurrence of yellow-bellied gliders and greater gliders in South East Queensland, with a primary focus on yellow-bellied gliders. The project aims to increase conservation awareness for the uncommonly observed yellow-bellied glider and threatened greater glider with councils, private landholders, and the general public.
Research and monitoring
QGN’s role involves utilising simple surveying techniques including GIS predictive mapping, acoustic monitoring, and observation surveys to record the distribution, spread and foraging preferences of these two glider species in the target regions.
QGN will also engage with community members and private landholders that reside in suspected yellow-bellied and greater glider habitat in South East Queensland to encourage reporting of local glider sightings and provide opportunities to be involved in monitoring surveys.
Initial monitoring locations will be in the Logan and Ipswich local government areas where small numbers of both glider species have been observed. The project will later branch out to cover all of South East Queensland.
Community engagement and education
QGN will run a public awareness campaign to educate and increase support for the conservation of the species via:
Get involved
The Yellow-bellied Glider Project will be commencing a volunteer program in early 2021. If you would like to get involved, please email us at glider@wildlife.org.au.
Further information and updates will be communicated on our social media platforms:
Greater Glider at Sheep Station Creek Conservation Park. Image © Jasmine Zeleny
In December 2017, the QGN installed 18 nest boxes in Sheep Station Creek Conservation Park, Caboolture, on Brisbane’s north side, to learn more about greater glider nest box use.
The project design included two nest boxes per tree (5m and 10m installation heights) on nine trees, including regular monitoring. Greater gliders were observed in nest boxes installed at 10m; no evidence of occupation by any glider species has been observed in nest boxes at 5m.
Thanks to the community grant funding from Moreton Bay Regional Council, in September 2020 this project will see the nine, 5m high nest boxes relocated into other areas within the reserve to maximise nest box availability for greater gliders. An additional seven new Hollow Log Homes nest boxes will be installed as well.
Installation sites have been chosen based on a series of spotlight surveys conducted by the QGN in April 2019.
Infrared camera image of a mahogany glider. Image © Wildlife Queensland Cassowary Coast
Since the mid-1990s, Wildlife Queensland’s Cassowary Coast-Hinchinbrook Branch has been actively working to save the endangered mahogany glider from extinction.
In July 2020, Wildlife Queensland Cassowary Coast-Hinchinbrook Branch President Daryl Dickson spoke about her work to connect and protect Queensland’s endangered mahogany glider to an audience of more than 150 at a Wildlife Queensland Glorious Gliders webinar.
Timeline of work:
Nest Box Monitoring with QGN
Photo © Maki Sumitani
QGN established an ongoing project in 2011 on glider population conservation within the Flinders Karawatha corridor. QGN’s role includes monitoring existing nest boxes as well as linking fragmented glider populations through additional nest box installation.
Each monitoring round assists us in tracking whether local glider populations are persisting, as well as the effectiveness of the installation of nest boxes as a conservation method. Other species recorded include common brushtail possums, short-eared mountain possums, lace monitors, pale-headed rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, native bees, native ants and red triangle slugs.
Our QGN presenters visit schools as well as youth and community groups to deliver glider education talks and raise awareness about the 6 species. In addition, our regular spotlights offer the chance to improve community knowledge and interest in gliders and their habitat requirements.
Latest Queensland Glider Network project updates include nest box monitoring and installation activities, and early findings from glider surveys in the West Logan region.
Yellow-bellied glider. Image © Sam Horton
A new Queensland Glider Network research and monitoring project will help to locate and protect threatened glider species in South East Queensland.
Join Wildlife Queensland for a special webinar to learn about our glorious gliding possums and conservation projects to protect them.
Wildlife Queensland’s Queensland Glider Network was excited to be a part of Logan City Council’s Conservations Incentives Program Celebration Day on Sunday, 1 March 2020.
University of Queensland placement student Rachael Harris has been working with Wildlife Queensland and the Queensland Glider Network to monitor nest boxes installed within urban bushland in the Forrestdale area in Logan. Rachael shares some surprising results from her recent analysis of nest box occupancy data.
Wildlife Queensland’s Queensland Glider Network is proud to have been awarded funding under the Moreton Bay Regional Council Community Grants Program to help protect greater gliders in the Moreton Bay Region.
The $3,139 grant from Moreton Bay Regional Council will be used to provide nest boxes for the greater glider in Sheep Station Creek Conservation Park in Caboolture, Queensland, creating essential hollow shelters for this vulnerable species.
Greater glider nest box monitoring. Image: Wildlife Queensland
Not only was it exciting to see a greater glider finally take up residence in one of the nest boxes installed on Brisbane’s north side as part of our Queensland Glider Network’s greater glider project, but a second greater glider was observed in a box in the same location just last month! It has also been encouraging recently to see sugar gliders nesting in three large boxes at a conservation reserve in Redland Bay.
We now have further evidence that greater gliders are willing to use nest boxes. Over 140 volunteer hours have gone into the monitoring involved in this project. Great effort, Team!
After four months of nest box monitoring and some seemingly disappointing early results, the Queensland Glider Network is celebrating the recent occupancy of a nest box in Brisbane’s north by a greater glider.
Please note, Queensland Glider Network News is no longer being published. Back issues are available below.
Funding
In 2019, QSN was awarded funding under the Moreton Bay Regional Council Community Grants Program to help protect greater gliders in the Moreton Bay Region.
For more information on WPSQ’s projects, email or phone 07 3844 0129.
[1] Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species, Teigan Cremona, Andrew M Baker, Steven J B Cooper, Rebecca Montague-Drake, Alyson M Stobo-Wilson, Susan M Carthew, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlaa060, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa060 Published: 13 July 2020
