One of my friends is getting a new pet for Christmas and when she told us what it was, no one had any clue what the hell she was talking about. Apparently she’s getting a baby “sugar glider,” which after a few attempts at describing we deduced was a flying koala chipmunk. Not like that really clears up the confusion.

So a quick google image search revealed that a flying koala chipmunk is pretty much as good of a description as it gets. Admittedly, it’s adorable (especially the babies - they’re TINY).

Apparently sugar gliders are tiny marsupials that come from Australia. They’ve been around the U.S. for about 20 years as companion pets, and in high numbers too! Ever trustworthy Wikipedia puts the numbers at 1.1 million domestic sugar gliders in 2007, which is approximately the same number of hamsters and guinea pigs owned by American families that year. I’ve owned hamsters myself and I’ve had friends who owned guinea pigs, but I have NEVER heard of a sugar glider until now. I wonder why that is.

More fun facts: They’re “lively and inquisitive nature” who get along with humans if given “plenty of attention (a minimum of 1-2 hours of daily human interaction).” So basically smaller and less slobbery than dogs but more interactive than a cat for anyone thinking about late Christmas gifts ;)