Greater Glider

A very special patient, a Greater Glider, was treated at Taronga’s Wildlife Hospital after sustaining horrific injuries from barbed wire fencing. This young male was the first of this species to be ever treated at Taronga Zoo.

Greater Gliders are the largest of Australia’s gliders. They are a tree-dwelling marsupial that consumes a specialised diet consisting almost exclusively of eucalypt leaves. They can glide up to 100m. The Greater Glider is strictly nocturnal, sleeping during daylight hours high up in tree hollows. They are very rarely seen.

This Greater Glider sustained terrible lacerations to the gliding membrane between his front and back legs, which appeared to have been caused by barbed wire. The treatment required was extensive, with the wound needing stitches and cleaning every day.

Not only did the veterinary staff have the injuries of the glider to tend to, but the gliders are known to be somewhat difficult to care for, due to their specialised diet, in some ways similar to a koala but a little fussier. Luckily for the Wildlife Hospital staff he took to the species provided to him well and also lapped up a delicious nectar mix made with maple syrup with no troubles.

The main aim as with any native animal that comes into our care was to be able to release the Greater Glider back into the wild, but due to his terrible injuries, sadly he would not be able to survive on his own. The only alternative was to find him a home, at Fleay’s Wildlife Park where he will join a breeding program

Every year Taronga Wildlife Hospital takes in over 1,000 sick, injured or orphaned native animals ranging from wombats which have been the victim of road accidents, pelicans which have swallowed fish hooks, blue-tongue lizards which have done battle with a whipper snipper to possums which have been attacked by cats or dogs. The majority of these are rehabilitated and released into their natural habitat.