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A sugar glider was found dumped at Botanic Gardens on Aug. 23, 2022.

A park visitor who came across the shy creature took photos and videos of it and put them up in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group.

The post was accompanied by a message admonishing those who keep illegal pets to exercise responsibility by not releasing and introducing non-native species of animals into Singapore's ecosystem.

Based on the photos, this particular sugar glider has mosaic fur patterns and colours.

Sugar gliders can also be grey, brown, or white.

The person who found the sugar glider also wrote that he has since handed the animal to wildlife vets, presumably those from the Mandai Wildlife Group.

A video showed the sugar glider resting in a bag.

Other videos showed it in Botanic Gardens in broad daylight.

What are sugar gliders?

Sugar gliders are not native to Singapore.

They are banned here as they are at risk of being smuggled in via inhumane ways due to their small size.

They are brought in via the illegal pet trade, and are sold in Malaysia.

Sugar gliders are native to Australia and New Guinea.

They can live up to 10 to 12 years in the wild.

They are omnivorous.

They consume saps, gums, nuts, pollen, fruits and insects.

As sugar gliders display a preference for nectareous foods, domesticated ones are fed yogurt.

Sugar gliders can glide up to 45m.

Their semi-prehensile tail is used to hold leaf matter and it is their ankle-to-wrist membrane that enables them to glide.

This is partly why they are considered unsuitable to be reared in a confined home environment, which posed risk to them when in flight.

Moreover, sugar gliders are social animals that can live in groups of six to 10 in one community.

This is also why they do not make good pets on their own as they should not be kept individually, a practice that is considered cruel to them.

Sugar gliders display grooming behaviour with one another.

It would show its affection by rubbing its head on another sugar glider.

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Sugar gliders are also know to bark when angry.

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