For information contact: Elenor Hodges 703-228-6427

ACE and Long Branch Nature Center Present:
The Flying Squirrels of Arlington!
-- Proceeds benefit local environmental efforts --

Arlington, Va., January 8, 2003 – Squirrels are a common site in Arlington: scampering on the trees, lawns, sidewalks, fences at anytime of year and usually in clusters. But on Thursday, January 16, beginning at 5:15 p.m. visitors to the Long Branch Nature Center will see an unusual site: squirrels “flying” overhead. Arlington is home to the Southern flying squirrel or glaucomys volans, a nocturnal animal that rarely leaves the tree tops. It is about half the size of its ground-based cousins and weighs only two to three ounces.

They fly between trees in spectacular form by leaping off high branches and assuming what looks like a “splat” posture: all four legs in spread eagle form. But instead of falling to the ground, great flaps of skin stretch out from their sides and they glide to their chosen treetop destination.

The tiny glaucomys volans squirrels of Arlington can glide as far as 300 feet in a single bound.

“They’re quite acrobatic,” says Long Branch Park Naturalist Anastazia Frueauf. “It’s been reported that they can ‘loop-the-loop’ and fly around trees and change direction completely.”

This time of year is the best time to observe the flying squirrels.

“They are active because they have to hunt for food, such as any nuts or left-over berries or carrion that they can find,” said Frueauf. “In the summer you don’t see them because they are quietly nesting and have a ready supply of insects and bird eggs to eat.”

Tickets for the event are $10 per person or $25 per family, with proceeds to benefit the Arlington Community Wildlife Habitat Project. The ACWH educates residents, schools, businesses and community organizations to create habitats that provide food, water, shelter and places to raise young for Arlington’s wild creatures.