Sugar gliders are marsupials. Marsupials include kangaroos, koalas, sugar gliders, wallabies, and wombats. Each has its own niche in the environment. Mammals are described as warm blooded, fur bearing animals that nurse their young. Mammals gestate their young placentally. Marsupials differ in that there is little or no placental gestation.

Marsupial offspring are born shortly after gestation. Therefore, newborn marsupials are poorly developed and extremely tiny. Once inside the pouch, the baby marsupial, or "joey", finds a mammary gland. By the time the joey is ready to emerge from the pouch, it is at a stage similar to that of some mammals at birth.

An adult Sugar glider is about 5 to 6 inches including head and body with a tail equally that long. Sugar gliders are gray with a cream belly. They have a black stripe from between the ears to the tip of the tail.

The tail is not prehensile, it is not used for grasping. It is used for balancing and as a rudder to control direction in flight.

The ears are fairly large and are constantly in motion, moving independently of each other like a radar picking up sounds. Since Sugar Gliders are nocturnal, their eyes are large and protruding and are set on the side of the face to get a wider scope of vision.

Sugar Gliders have five digits on each forefoot, ending in a sharp claw that is used for gripping when landing. The hind feet also have five digits, including an enlarged, clawless big toe.

Gliders have a patagium, which is a furry membrane of skin that stretches from their wrists to their ankles. The patagium will look like a rippled piece of skin when the glider is resting. When gliding, the patagium will spread out into a rectangular shape. Gliders can glide easily because they only weigh 4-5 ounces as adults. ( Sugar Glider R Us )