Never Hold Your Glider By The Tail

Sugar Gliders have a SEMI-prehensile tail. The term "prehensile" means able to grasp. Animals with fully prehensile tails are able to hold, grasp, and manipulate objects with their tails. They can also support their body weight and can hang from their tails as they move from branch to branch and find food. Sugar Gliders, as well as other possums, have a partially (or semi) prehensile tail which they can use to aid in balance and carrying light-weight objects to their nests. Because the glider's tail is only partially prehensile, it is not strong enough to support great weights, like their bodies. This means that if you hold your glider by the tail, it is very likely to break or dislocate. A glider's tail is an extension of it's spinal/backbone and when a glider is injured, ie. breaks a bone, it will often resort to self-mutilation to try to remove the source of the pain. For this reason, you should never grab or hold your glider by the tail.