Siberian Flying Squirrel (Pteromys volans) lives in northern coniferous forests across Northeast Asia and Europe. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Hear the Siberian Flying Squirrel
A real field recording of the Siberian Flying Squirrel, made in the wild.
Fascinating facts about the Siberian Flying Squirrel
The Siberian flying squirrel is the only flying squirrel native to Europe and the EU classifies it as vulnerable, with surviving populations confined to Estonia and Finland. It inhabits a vast east-west corridor that begins at the Baltic Sea and stretches across Northern Asia to the Pacific coast.
A distinctive feature of the Siberian flying squirrel is its furry glide membrane, the patagium, which stretches between its front and rear limbs. When fully extended, the animal can launch itself from one tree and travel more than a hundred metres through the air, a distance recorded alongside a glide ratio of 3.31.
Belarus believed the Siberian flying squirrel extinct after 1996, but a surprise sighting in 2017 proved the species persisted. Subsequent surveys in 2019 uncovered more than 80 suitable habitats in the country's far-northern regions, dramatically expanding known local distribution. The species remains under pressure in Finland and the Baltic states, where it faces the risk of becoming endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
The European Union, together with Finland and Estonia, has launched a six-year conservation programme that is funded with 8.9 million euros to protect the Siberian flying squirrel. Because Finland is an EU member, the species also benefits from the Union's 1992 Habitats Directive, which places it under legal protection.
The nominate subspecies P. volans is widespread across the Palearctic realm, occurring in Northern Europe, Siberia and East Asia, while the three other subspecies each have a very limited island distribution. athene is found only on Sakhalin, P. buechneri is restricted to China and P. orii occurs solely on Hokkaido.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
In the mystical veil of the boreal forest, the Siberian Flying Squirrel dances through the night, its silken membrane unfolding like a ghostly sail as it glides effortlessly between the towering tree trunks. With an ethereal gentleness, it navigates the shadowy realm, its large, round eyes shining like lanterns in the dark, as it pursues a solitary and nocturnal existence. As it alights upon a branch, its soft fur fluffed against the chill of the northern air, this enigmatic creature embodies the very essence of the forest's hidden magic.
Advertisement
Hear the Siberian Flying Squirrel, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
