Colugo

order of mammals

Colugos, also known as Dermopterans, are gliding mammals in the order Dermoptera.

Colugos
Temporal range: Upper Palaeocene – Recent
Scientific classification
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Dermoptera

Illiger, 1811

There are two living species, found in south-east Asia. They are also called 'flying lemurs', though they are not lemurs (all lemurs are in Madagascar). They can glide long distances, as they have a thin membrane stretched to the ends of the tail and each limb.

Life style

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Colugos live in the tropical rain forests of southeast Asia. Their diet includes leaves and young shoots. During the day they rest high in the trees, clinging to trunks or hiding in tree holes. At dusk they become active, gliding from trunk to trunk like sheets of paper blown on the wind. The young are carried clinging to the flight membrane.

Habitat

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Colugos range from Burma, Indochina and southern Thailand to peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. They also occur throughout Borneo. A second colugo species inhabits the southern Philippines.