Home-range and den use of the mahogany glider, Petaurus gracilis

The home-range of the mahogany glider was estimated, and its social behavio ur examined, by following radio-collared animals over a two-year period wit hin an area of continuous habitat and an adjacent area of fragmented habita t. The average home range within the continuous habitat was 19.25 ha for ma les and 20.34 ha for females, with male and female pairs occupying a combin ed area of 23.15 ha. In contrast, the average home range in the fragmented habitat was 11.05 ha for males and 6.80 ha for females, with a combined hom e-range of male and female pairs being 11.60 ha. The average overlap of the home ranges of paired males and females was 85.9%, compared with approxima tely 11% for non-paired individuals, which suggests that mahogany gliders a re socially monogamous. For a total of 46 nights on which gliders were cons idered to behave normally for the entire night, the average foraging distan ce was 1506 m (range 590-3420 m) with no significant difference between mal es and females in either the continuous or fragmented habitat. There was, h owever, a significant difference in the distance individuals travelled duri ng different times of the year, with longer distances being travelled durin g late dry season/wet season and shorter distances during the early to mid dry season. Mahogany gliders also travelled further when there was a high a vailability of nectar and pollen than when there was lower availability. A total of 83 dens (tree hollows) were recorded for the mahogany glider, with the poplar gum, Eucalyptus platyphylla, forest red gum, Eucalyptus teretic ornis, and Clarkson's bloodwood, Corymbia clarksoniana, being most used.