Marie, Pierre, and Becq are one of our visitors' favorite animals at our center, and we're pretty sure it's based on just how cute these guys are. Marie and Pierre are named after Marie and Pierre Curie, known for their pioneering work in the study of radioactivity and their discovery of the elements radium and polonium. Becq is named after Henri Becquerel, the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. All three shared a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903.
Sugar gliders get their name for their love of sugar and their innate ability to glide from tree to tree. They can glide over 150 feet, and in the wild they spend most of their life up in the trees. They're able to glide and land on trees with their membranes covered with fur that stretch from their wrist to their ankles and their sharp, hook-like claws. Sugar gliders have large eyes and ears so that they can see better at night, as they are nocturnal animals, meaning they are most active at night.
Sugar gliders are also marsupials, meaning that the females have a pouch that their babies stay in after birth to develop longer. Female gliders can give birth to two or three baby gliders at one time, and it takes 16-20 days for a baby glider to be born. Sugar gliders make nests by lining a hole in trees with things such as leaves and sticks which they can carry using their tail.
Our sugar gliders are just a one of the many animals we have at the center to increase students' and visitors' knowledge about their species. Want to help us with the successful care of our animals? Join others in sponsoring an animal at our center. Pierre and Becq are waiting for someone to sponsor them!