Flying squirrels are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they are able to glide from one tree to another with the aid of a patagium, a furred skin membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. Their long tails also provide stability as they glide. Anatomically they are very similar to other squirrels with a number of adaptations to suit their lifestyle; their limb bones are longer and their hand bones, foot bones, and distal vertebrae are shorter. Flying squirrels are able to steer and exert control over their glide path with their limbs and tail.
The western woolly flying squirrel is a species of very large flying squirrel in the genus Eupetaurus. It is native to northern Pakistan and northwestern India. It was long considered the only species in the genus until the description of two other species in 2021. Until recently, scientific knowledge of this rare species was limited to 11 skins collected in the late nineteenth century. However, recent research has confirmed that it remains in Kashmir. It is among the longest members of the family Sciuridae, and one of the biggest gliding animals known. Observations confirm that despite its size, it does glide effectively, like other flying squirrels.
Sciurinae is a subfamily of squirrels, uniting the flying squirrels with certain related tree squirrels. Older sources place the flying squirrels in a separate subfamily (Pteromyinae) and unite all remaining sciurids into the subfamily Sciurinae, but this has been strongly refuted by genetic studies.
Eupetaurus is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Members of this genus are known as woolly flying squirrels. They are large to very large flying squirrels found in the highest rocky cliffs near the treeline of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. Due to the inaccessibility of their montane habitat, they are difficult to study.
Biswamoyopterus is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It contains three known species of very large flying squirrels, with B. laoensis being among the longest of all squirrels. They are distributed in forests in northeast India, southwest China and Laos. Despite their size, species in this genus tend to be very elusive; due to this, all of them have been described relatively recently. Additionally, they are easily confused with certain Petaurista giant flying squirrels that are more common and overlap in range with the rare Biswamoyopterus.
The Namdapha flying squirrel is a flying squirrel endemic to Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, where it is known from a single zoological specimen collected in Namdapha National Park in 1981.
The red giant flying squirrel or common giant flying squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae (squirrels). It is found in a wide variety of forest–types, plantations and more open habitats with scattered trees in Southeast Asia, ranging north to the Himalayas and southern and central China. One of the largest arboreal squirrels, all populations have at least some reddish-brown above and pale underparts, but otherwise there are significant geographic variations in the colours. The taxonomic position of those in the Sundaic region is generally agreed upon, but there is considerable uncertainty about the others, which variously have been included in this or other species, or recognized as their own species.
The Hengduan Mountains are a group of mountain ranges in southwest China that connect the southeast portions of the Tibetan Plateau with the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. The Hengduan Mountains are primarily large north-south mountain ranges that effectively separate lowlands in northern Myanmar from the lowlands of the Sichuan Basin. These ranges are characterized by significant vertical relief originating from the Indian subcontinent's collision with the Eurasian Plate, and further carved out by the major rivers draining the eastern Tibetan Plateau. These rivers, the Yangtze, Mekong, and Salween, are recognized today as the Three Parallel Rivers UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion found in the middle elevations of the eastern Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. These forests have an outstanding richness of wildlife.
Hodgson's giant flying squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This large flying squirrel lives in Himalayan forests in Asia. Like other flying squirrels, it is nocturnal and able to glide long distances between trees by spreading out its patagium, skin between its limbs.
The Bhutan giant flying squirrel, also known as the Gray's giant flying squirrel or noble giant flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This species lives in Himalayan forests and it is one of the largest flying squirrels. Like other flying squirrels, it is mainly nocturnal and able to glide long distances between trees by spreading out its patagium, skin between its limbs.
The Indian giant flying squirrel, also called the large brown flying squirrel or the common giant flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is capable of gliding flight using a skin membrane, the patagium, stretched between front and hind legs. It is found in mainland Southeast and South Asia, and southern and central China.
The Alpine musk deer is a musk deer species native to the eastern Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and India to the highlands of Tibet.
The Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests is a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion which is found in the middle and upper elevations of the eastern Middle Himalayas, in western Nepal, Bhutan, northern Indian states including Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim and adjacent Myanmar and China.
The Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve (GNNR) is a protected area comprising the Gaoligong Mountains and the nearby Nu Jiang Reserve in the western Yunnan Province of China, near the international border with Burma. It covers a vast stretch of the junction of Baoshan City, Tengchong, and Lushui County, towards the west side of Nu (Salween) River.
The Skywalker hoolock gibbon or Gaoligong hoolock gibbon is an arboreal primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of three species of hoolock gibbon and was first described in January 2017 in the American Journal of Primatology. The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is one of two species of Eastern hoolocks: H. tianxing and H. leuconedys. Researchers estimate H. tianxing diverged from H. leuconedys roughly 490,000 years ago. The Eastern hoolock is vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with a population of 310,000–370,000 individuals. Of this population, H. tianxing makes up less than 150 individuals, making the Skywalker hoolock gibbon an endangered species.
The Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel is a species of large, arboreal flying squirrel endemic to highland forests in southwestern China.
The Tibetan woolly flying squirrel is a species of very large flying squirrel in the genus Eupetaurus. It is found in the south-central portion of the Tibetan Plateau, namely south-central Tibet, northern Sikkim, and western Bhutan.
The Himalayan large-eared flying squirrel is a species of flying squirrel found in southwestern Yunnan Province, China, and adjoining Myanmar. It is the only member of the genus Priapomys.
