Marsupial Mammal Venom?

Chris J. Durden drdn at mail.utexas.edu
Fri May 12 02:56:00 EDT 2000


Does enyone know if SUGAR GLIDERS use venom to stun their insect prey?

  Last night while hand feeding a noctuid to my wife's sugar glider, the
glider missed the insect and got my thumb with its needle-like lower
incisors. Fluid from the tiny puncture wound tasted "bitter-peppery". Today
the thumb is tight, bluish red and feels like a wasp stung it.
  I had noted how rapidly large moths, beetles, and cicadas go quiet after
being bitten by the sugar glider. Some shrews use toxic saliva to stun
their prey. I wonder if sugar gliders do too.
  This sugar glider is from commercial stock derived from *Petaurus
breviceps* domesticated in Germany in the 1960's, originally from New
Guinea or Australia.
.......Chris Durden



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