Editing Sugar glider (section)

===Torpor===
Sugar gliders can tolerate ambient air temperatures of up to {{convert|40|°C|°F}} through behavioural strategies such as licking their coat and exposing the wet area, as well as drinking small quantities of water.<ref name=smith(73) />
In cold weather, sugar gliders will huddle together to avoid heat loss, and will enter [[torpor]] to conserve energy.<ref name=Kortner(2000) /> Huddling as an energy conserving mechanism is not as efficient as torpor.<ref name=Kortner(2000) /> Before entering torpor, a sugar glider will reduce activity and body temperature normally in order to lower energy expenditure and avoid torpor.<ref name="arjournals.annualreviews.org">{{cite journal |first=Fritz |last=Geiser |title=Metabolic Rate and Body Temperature Reduction During Hibernation and Daily Torpor |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=239–274 |year=2004|doi=10.1146/annurev.physiol.66.032102.115105 |journal=Annual Review of Physiology |pmid=14977403|s2cid=22397415 }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |first=Nereda |last=Christian |author2=Fritz Geiser  |title=To use or not to use torpor? Activity and body temperature as predictors |journal=Naturwissenschaften |volume=94 |issue=6 |pages=483–487 |year= 2007 |doi=10.1007/s00114-007-0215-5 |pmid=17252241|bibcode=2007NW.....94..483C |s2cid=24061894 }}</ref> With energetic constraints, the sugar glider will enter into daily torpor for 2–23 hours while in rest phase.<ref name=Kortner(2000) /> 
Torpor differs from [[hibernation]] in that torpor is usually a short-term daily cycle.  Entering torpor saves energy for the animal by allowing its body temperature to fall to a minimum of {{convert|10.4|°C|°F}}<ref name=Kortner(2000) /> to {{convert|19.6|°C|°F}}.<ref name="springerlink1">{{cite journal |first=Fritz |last=Geiser |author2=Joanne C. Holloway |author3=Gerhard Körtner |title=Thermal biology, torpor and behaviour in sugar gliders: a laboratory-field comparison |journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology B |volume=177 |issue=5 |pages=495–501 |year=2007 |doi=10.1007/s00360-007-0147-6 |pmid=17549496 |s2cid=24469410 }}</ref> When food is scarce, as in winter, heat production is lowered in order to reduce energy expenditure.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=11765973 | volume=171 | issue=8 | title=Seasonal changes in the thermoenergetics of the marsupial sugar glider, ''Petaurus breviceps'' |date=November 2001 | journal=J. Comp. Physiol. B | pages=643–50 | doi=10.1007/s003600100215 | last1 = Holloway | first1 = JC | last2 = Geiser | first2 = F| s2cid=1008750 }}</ref> With low energy and heat production, it is important for the sugar glider to peak its body mass by fat content in the autumn (May/June) in order to survive the following cold season. In the wild, sugar gliders enter into daily torpor more often than sugar gliders in captivity.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="springerlink1"/> The use of torpor is most frequent during winter, likely in response to low ambient temperature, rainfall, and seasonal fluctuation in food sources.<ref name=Kortner(2000)>{{cite journal|last1=Kortner|first1=G|last2=Geiser|first2=F|title=Torpor and activity patterns in free-ranging sugar gliders "Petaurus breviceps" (Marsupialia)|journal=Oecologia|date=2000|volume=123|issue=3|pages=350–357|doi=10.1007/s004420051021|pmid=28308589|bibcode=2000Oecol.123..350K|s2cid=10103980}}</ref>