---
title: "What the sources say about the Sunda Colugo | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "58 claims from the Sunda Colugo profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/sunda-colugo-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sunda-colugo/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Sunda Colugo (*Galeopterus variegatus*)

> 58 claims from the Sunda Colugo profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Sunda Colugo](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sunda-colugo/)

## Galeopterus variegates (Sunda flying lemur). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Galeopterus_variegates/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| furred gliding membrane from neck to fingers, toes and tail | This membrane is fully furred, extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail. |
| carrying it up to 100 metres with little height loss | glide away to escape predators, gliding up to up to 100 m with minimal loss in altitude (note: ADW also says 'over 100 m' in its behaviour section; the page takes the account's more conservative figure) |
| Rainforest canopy across Indochina and Sundaland | endemic to Indochina and Sundaland, an area which includes the Malay Peninsula and the surrounding islands |
| including highlands, disturbed forest edges and plantations | found in highlands and can readily adapt to disturbed forests edges and plantations |
| Soft plant parts: young leaves, buds, fruit, flowers, nectar and sap | strictly herbivorous. They feed on soft plant parts such as fruits, flowers, buds, young leaves, nectar, and sap. |
| A furred gliding membrane (patagium) running from neck to fingers, toes and tail, spreading to about 70 cm in a glide | extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail. When gliding, the patagium can extend to about 70 cm |
| Bold patches of color in its fur look like lichen, camouflage against predators | Bold patches of fur that look similar lichen provide camouflage against predators. |
| An adult weighs 0.9 to 2 kilograms | weigh 0.9 to 2 kg (2 to 4.5 lbs) |
| measures 33 to 42 centimetres long, plus a 17.5 to 27-centimetre tail | 33 to 42 cm in length with 17.5 to 27 cm tails |
| a colugo is not a lemur, and it cannot fly | While Sunda flying lemurs cannot fly, a membrane of skin called a patagium allows them to glide. (note: Not a lemur: ADW's classification table puts the species in order Dermoptera, family Cynocephalidae; lemurs are primates.) |
| Its other name, "flying lemur," | Sunda flying lemurs are also known as Malayan flying lemurs |
| Clinging to a rainforest trunk in Southeast Asia, a Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is hard to spot | They grasp the underside of branches or the trunk of a tree with all four feet. (note: "Hard to spot" rests on the camouflage claim that follows (lichen-like patches that provide camouflage); Southeast Asia from "found in Southeast Asia".) |
| a mammal order counted among the closest living relatives of primates | the closest living relatives to primates (note: ADW's classification table places the species in order Dermoptera, not Primates.) |
| To escape predators it glides away, covering up to 100 metres with little loss in height | glide away to escape predators, gliding up to up to 100 m with minimal loss in altitude (note: ADW also says 'over 100 m' in its behaviour section; the page takes the account's more conservative figure) |
| A sheet of furred skin called a patagium runs from the colugo's neck, along its limbs, out to its fingers, toes and tail | a membrane of skin called a patagium allows them to glide. This membrane is fully furred, extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail. |
| A Membrane From Neck to Tail | extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail |
| When the animal glides, it can spread to about 70 centimetres, with help from an extensor muscle in the flank | When gliding, the patagium can extend to about 70 cm with the help of an extensor muscle in the flank membrane |
| Climbing a trunk looks awkward: it stretches out its front legs, then brings up its back legs in a hopping motion | Climbing trees involves stretching out the two front legs then bringing up the two back legs, giving an awkward, hopping appearance. |
| Sunda colugos are strict herbivores, feeding on soft plant parts: young leaves, buds, fruit, flowers, nectar and sap | strictly herbivorous. They feed on soft plant parts such as fruits, flowers, buds, young leaves, nectar, and sap. |
| comb-shaped lower incisors, with up to 20 prongs per tooth | up to 20 prongs per tooth (note: ADW states the comb-shaped incisors at family scope (Cynocephalidae), which includes this species.) |
| A Diet of Soft Plant Parts | They feed on soft plant parts |
| among 34 carnivore-like teeth | 34 carnivore-like teeth |
| thought to help them scrape sap from trees or strain fruit and flowers | thought to be used to scrape up sap from trees or to strain fruits and flowers |
| gestation of about 60 days; twins happen rarely | gestation period of about 60 days, female Sunda flying lemurs give birth to a single offspring. Rarely, twins can be born. |
| weighing around 35 grams | weighs around 35 g |
| Its mother can fold her patagium into a pouch to protect and warm it; out of the pouch, it clings to her underside, even while she glides from tree to tree | The mother can fold her patagium into a pouch to protect and warm her offspring. ... Offspring cling to the underside of the mother, if not in the pouch, even when she is gliding from tree to tree. |
| Passengers in a Furry Parachute | Offspring cling to the underside of the mother, if not in the pouch, even when she is gliding from tree to tree. |
| Pups are weaned at six months and reach adulthood at about three years | Weaning occurs at six months of age, and adulthood is reached at about three years. |
| Sunda colugos are endemic to Indochina and Sundaland, the region covering the Malay Peninsula and its surrounding islands | endemic to Indochina and Sundaland, an area which includes the Malay Peninsula and the surrounding islands |
| They are strictly arboreal, living out their lives in the rainforest canopy | strictly arboreal, spending their entire lives in the treetops of tropical rainforests |
| they are also found in highlands and adapt to disturbed forest edges and plantations | found in highlands and can readily adapt to disturbed forests edges and plantations |
| Little is known about their lifespan, but the oldest known captive member of the colugo family Cynocephalidae reached 17.5 years | Little information is available on the lifespan of Sunda flying lemurs, but the oldest known captive flying lemur of the family Cynocephalidae was 17.5 years old. (note: Family- and captivity-scoped, kept at ADW's own hedge; ADW's page is old (2009 access date) and no current source states a species-level wild lifespan.) |
| Humans are among the colugo's few known predators | Humans are among the few known predators of Sunda flying lemurs. |
| if threatened, a colugo freezes or climbs higher into the trees | If threatened, these animals either freeze or climb higher into the trees. |
| Habitat loss to logging and the conversion of native forest into farmland has cut colugo numbers | numbers have been decreasing due to habitat loss from logging and the conversion of native forests into farm land (note: Stated as a past decline, not a current trend: the ADW account is not recent enough to back a present-tense state.) |
| Holding On in a Shrinking Canopy | numbers have been decreasing due to habitat loss from logging and the conversion of native forests into farm land |
| The patagium lets it glide, not fly under its own power | While Sunda flying lemurs cannot fly, a membrane of skin called a patagium allows them to glide. |
| colugos form their own mammal order, Dermoptera, which happens to be the closest living relative of the primates | the closest living relatives to primates (note: "Own mammal order, Dermoptera" is from ADW's classification table (Order: Dermoptera), not a prose sentence.) |
| Up to 100 metres, while losing little height | glide away to escape predators, gliding up to up to 100 m with minimal loss in altitude (note: ADW also says 'over 100 m' in its behaviour section; the page takes the account's more conservative figure) |
| riding a furred membrane that stretches from its neck to its fingers, toes and tail | fully furred, extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail |
| By folding its own gliding membrane into a pouch | The mother can fold her patagium into a pouch to protect and warm her offspring. |
| Newborns are tiny, weighing around 35 grams | weighs around 35 g |
| A baby rides in the pouch or clings to its mother's underside | Offspring cling to the underside of the mother, if not in the pouch |
| depends on her until it is weaned at about six months old | Weaning occurs at six months of age ... Young Sunda flying lemurs are dependent on the mother until they are weaned. |
| a mammal that cannot fly but glides up to 100 metres with little loss in height | glide away to escape predators, gliding up to up to 100 m with minimal loss in altitude (note: vibe.reason (#908)) |
| a mammal that cannot fly | While Sunda flying lemurs cannot fly, a membrane of skin called a patagium allows them to glide (note: vibe.reason (#908)) |
| on a furred membrane stretched from neck to tail | This membrane is fully furred, extending along the limbs from the neck to the fingers, toes and tail (note: vibe.reason (#908)) |
| weightKg: 1.3 | Sunda flying lemurs weigh 0.9 to 2 kg (note: ADW gives a range, no mean; 1.3 sits inside it and every value in the range is Light (0.1 to 10 kg), so the class is sourced whatever the point figure (#908)) |

## Boeadi & Steinmetz (2008). Galeopterus variegatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T41502A10479343.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2008.rlts.t41502a10479343.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the IUCN's 2008 assessment, the latest, rates the species Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: Category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List on 2026-09-28 since iucnredlist.org refuses scripts. 2008 is Crossref's issued date (2008-06-30) for this DOI; a Crossref search on 2026-09-28 found no later assessment for taxon 41502, and GBIF's current category matches.) |

## Byrnes, Lim & Spence (2008). Take-off and landing kinetics of a free-ranging gliding mammal, the Malayan colugo (Galeopterus variegatus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.1684

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2008 study that fitted free-ranging colugos with accelerometers found they actively control each glide | gliding animals must actively modulate both propulsive and aerodynamic forces. Here we examined the take-off and landing kinetics of a free-ranging gliding mammal, the Malayan colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) using a custom-designed three-dimensional accelerometry system. |
| The animals push off harder for longer glides, and landing forces fall quickly as glides lengthen from the shortest, then level off, suggesting they reorient the aerodynamic forces before landing to slow down | colugos increase the propulsive impulse to affect longer glides ... Landing forces decrease rapidly as glide distance increases from the shortest glides, then level off, suggesting that the ability to reorient the aerodynamic forces prior to landing is an important mechanism to reduce velocity and thus landing forces |

## Byrnes et al. (2011). Gliding saves time but not energy in Malayan colugos. Journal of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.052993

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Gliding Is Not the Cheap Way Across | gliding is more energetically costly to move a given horizontal distance than would be predicted for an animal travelling the same distance through the canopy |
| A 2011 study found | This study employed an animal-borne three-dimensional acceleration data-logging system to collect continuous data on the climbing and gliding of free-ranging Malayan colugos |
| gliding is not the energy-saving shortcut it looks like | the energetic economy hypothesis for the origins of gliding is not supported |
| Colugos climb a short way to launch a glide, and the energy cost of that climb makes a glide pricier per metre than crossing that same ground through the canopy would be | colugos climb a short distance to initiate glides. However, due to the high energetic cost of climbing, gliding is more energetically costly to move a given horizontal distance than would be predicted for an animal travelling the same distance through the canopy. |
| A 2011 study of free-ranging colugos found they spend a small fraction of their time actually moving, so gliding's high costs have little effect on their overall energy budget | because colugos spend a small fraction of their time engaged in locomotor activity, the high costs have little effect on their overall energy budget |
| The extra cost hardly counts | the high costs have little effect on their overall energy budget |
| The authors think other ecological factors likely played a bigger part than saving energy in how gliding evolved | the energetic economy hypothesis for the origins of gliding is not supported. It is likely that other ecologically relevant factors have played a greater role in the origins of gliding in colugos and other mammals. |