Editing Sugar glider (section)

===Diet and nutrition===
[[File:Petaurus breviceps Gould.jpg|thumb|1863 illustration by [[John Gould]]]]
Sugar gliders are seasonally adaptive omnivores with a wide variety of foods in their diet, and mainly forage in the lower layers of the forest canopy.<ref name="Jackson(2k)"/><ref name=smith87>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=AP |title=Diet and feeding strategies of the marsupial glider in temperate Australia |journal=Journal of Animal Ecology |date=1982 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=149–166 |doi=10.2307/4316|jstor=4316 }}</ref> Sugar gliders may obtain up to half their daily water intake through drinking rainwater, with the remainder obtained through water held in its food.<ref name=Nagy(1985) /> In summer they are primarily [[insectivorous]], and in the winter when insects (and other [[arthropod]]s) are scarce, they are mostly [[Exudate|exudativorous]] (feeding on [[acacia gum]], [[eucalyptus]] [[Plant sap|sap]], [[manna (disambiguation)|manna]],{{efn| When dried, an [[exudate]] (such as sap) becomes [[Crystallization|crystallized]] and is referred to as ''manna'',<ref>{{cite web|title=manna|url=http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&s=manna&i=1&h=100#c|work=WordNet Search – 3.1|publisher=WordNet. Princeton University|access-date=19 December 2012|quote=(n) manna (hardened sugary exudation of various trees) : Synset (semantic) relations, ''direct hypernym'' (n) sap (a watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Pickert|editor-first=Executive: Joseph P.|title=The American heritage dictionary of the English language.|year=1992|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|isbn=0395825172|edition=4th|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/1065 1065]|quote=manna ''n''. 4. The dried exudate of certain plants|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/1065}}</ref> which is consumed by sugar gliders.<ref>{{cite web|editor-last=Cianciolo|author=Janine M., DVM|title=Sugar Glider Nutrition|url=http://www.sugar-gliders.com/sugar-glider-diet.htm|work=Past Newsletters|publisher=SunCoast Sugar Gliders|quote=Sugar gliders eat manna in the wild. Manna is a crusty sugar left from where sap flowed from a wound in a tree trunk or branch.}}</ref>}} [[Honeydew (secretion)|honeydew]] or [[lerp (biology)|lerp]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sugar Glider Diet|url=http://www.sugarglidercorner.com/category/sugar-glider-diet/|work=Sugar Glider Diet Archives|publisher=Sugar Glider Cage|access-date=6 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824125424/http://www.sugarglidercorner.com/category/sugar-glider-diet/|archive-date=24 August 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Sugar gliders have an enlarged [[caecum]] to assist in digestion of [[complex carbohydrates]] obtained from gum and sap.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dierenfeld |first1=Ellen |title=Feeding behavior and nutrition of the Sugar Glider (''Petaurus breviceps'')|journal=Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice |date=2009 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=209–215 |doi=10.1016/j.cvex.2009.01.014|pmid=19341949 }}</ref>
 
To obtain sap or gum from plants, sugar gliders will strip the bark off trees or open bore holes with their teeth to access stored liquid.<ref name="smith87"/> Little time is spent [[foraging]] for insects, as it is an energetically expensive process, and sugar gliders will wait until insects fly into their habitat, or stop to feed on flowers.<ref name="smith87"/>
Gliders consume approximately 11 g of dry food matter per day.<ref name=Nagy(1985) /> This equates to roughly 8% and 9.5% of body weight for males and females, respectively.

They are [[opportunistic feeder]]s and can be [[Carnivore|carnivorous]], preying mostly on lizards and small birds.  They eat many other foods when available, such as nectar, acacia seeds, bird eggs, pollen, fungi and native fruits.<ref>{{cite web |last=McLeod, DVM |first=Lianne |title=Feeding Sugar Gliders / Nutritional Needs and Sample Diets |url=http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/sugargliders/a/sgfeeding.htm |publisher=About.com |access-date=3 October 2012 |archive-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825030756/http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/sugargliders/a/sgfeeding.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Natural Diet |url=http://www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?NaturalDiet |work=Gliderpedia |publisher=SugarGlider.com |access-date=2012-11-02}}</ref> Pollen can make up a large portion of their diet, therefore sugar gliders are likely to be important [[pollinator]]s of ''[[Banksia]]'' species.<ref name=vanTets>{{cite journal |last1=van Tets |first1=Ian G. |last2=Whelan |first2=Robert J. |title=Banksia pollen in the diet of Australian mammals |journal=Ecography |date=1997 |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=499–505 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0587.1997.tb00418.x|doi-access=free }}</ref>