[Native Creatures of Japan] Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel | AUGUST 2025

The Japanese giant flying squirrel (Petaurista leucogenys), measuring around 30 cm to 50 cm in body length, has a long tail roughly the same length as its body. A member of the squirrel family, it is considered one of the largest members of the squirrel and mouse families inhabiting Japan. Because it is active at night, it lives in a cave-like tree hollow during the day, and at night, it glides from tree to tree by spreading out its flying skin—the membrane of skin between its front and hind legs and between the hind legs and tail—like a cape. The usual gliding distance is 20 m to 30 m, but maximum glides of around 120 m have been recorded. Because its shape in flight resembled a fusuma1 , it was called a nobusuma (wild fusuma) during the Edo period (early 17th century to mid-late 19th century) and was feared as a type of Japanese yokai.2 Because the Japanese giant flying squirrel can only live in forests with large trees, preserving solid areas of woodland is key to conservation efforts for it.

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