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Introduction The House >> Live data >> Efficiency  Monitoring  >> (Web Energy Logger) >> (WEL Store) The Land Wildlife About Us Podcast Info Links (Resources) Books |
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Mission Statement Earth (Sheltering) Sun (Passive Solar) Water (Geothermal) >> Efficiency test |
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Energy Mgmt. GREEN HVAC Energy Logger The Weather |
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Phil's Other Stuff Marsupials GEARS SUGO Resume |
A home for our Sugar Gliders:
One unique feature of our new home design is a habitat for our family of Sugar Gliders.
This space opens out into the Sun-Room where the little animals will be let out to play in the evening.
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small arboreal marsupial that is found in the forests of Australia, as well as in Tasmania, New Guinea, and the neighboring islands of Indonesia. This little creature is a member of the same order that includes kangaroos, opossums, wombats and Tasmanian devils!
Sugar gliders are so named for their preference for sweet foods and their
ability to glide through the air like a flying squirrel. They travel through the
midnight tree tops by launching themselves into the air and transforming into a
living kite by spreading out their
sails of skin. They can make glides of over
one hundred meters and use their long tails as rudders to control the direction
of flight. They have even been known to snatch an insect out of the air in mid
flight. This gliding is made possible by a thin membrane of skin called a
patagium that extends between their front and back legs.
The sugar glider has very thick soft grey mink-like fur with a black
stripe that runs the full length of the body in line with the spine. This black
stripe extends up and over the top of the head. The last couple of inches of the
tail are also black. The glider also has dramatic black markings on the face,
legs and back. The sugar glider's head and body measures five to six inches with
a bushy tail of equal length.
(Glider facts from www.SugarGlider.com
)
Ours is a five-glider family. Twix and
Azucar (Zukie) are the mom and dad. Zippy, Zoe and Skittles are the boy and
2 girl
siblings. The images below show the family in group and individual
settings. New images are added to the bottom of each column. Click any thumbnail for a larger image.
Scroll down further to see several short glider movies.
| Groups | Twix (Mother) | Zukie (Father) | Zip (Son) | Zoe (Daughter) | Skittles (Daughter #2) |
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Glider Movies:
All these movies are AVI files, and they range in size from 3 to 5 MB.
Right-Click on the picture to start the download.
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This movie shows little Zoe letting me play with her while she eats. This is about the only time that gliders stand still (except when they're sleeping). |
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Here we see Zukie, Zippy and Zoe hanging out on their shoe, having a snack of crickets. |
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Here's baby Skitttles, trying to get a purchase on Mom's back Skittles has only been out of the pouch (OOP) for about a week here. |
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An exercise in Energy Smart, Not So Big living. www.OurCoolHouse.com - Ideas @OurCoolHouse.com
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This site is all about building a cool, energy efficient house, that makes maximum use of earth sheltered design, passive solar heating and cooling, geothermal exchange energy management, and right sizing of the house for it's designated use. The home's placement is on a south-facing hillside in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. This site describes the design process, the technologies used and the expected results. We also have a comprehensive Links Page for anyone who is also interested in designing a similar project.