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Colugo (Flying Lemur)
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WILDLIFE REHABILITATION
COLUGO (FLYING LEMUR) CYNOCEPHALUS VARIEGATES
Flying Lemur
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When I came home in the late afternoon, my son
Giddie handed me a towel with a strange little animal sleeping inside.
Inactivity is a bad sign and this didn't look good, unless the animal is
nocturnal.
The optimist in me said just keep it in the towel, put it in a basket in a
quiet place and check again after dark. I cleaned out a wicker basket, put
the colugo inside, and placed the works on top of a large dresser. Then I
went back to the computer.
Amporn came home and took a nap that lasted until after dark. Suddenly she
ran out of the bedroom, yelling "Something's in there" again and again. I
laughed; the animal was nocturnal and healthy.
First cataloged in 1799, the Colugo is not really a lemur, but one of two
species in the Dermoptera, or "skin-wing" family. C. variegates is the Malay
Peninsula specie, while C. volans is the Philippine colugo.
With only two species in the same family, Colugo serve as evidence of Sunda
Shelf biodiversity allowing the family to migrate from Phuket to the
Philippines when seas retreated 120 meters only 18,000 years ago.
As expected, colugos spend their lives in trees, eating their own special
variety according to the local mix.
Take colugo away from their local habitat and they don't do well. The
longest one lived in captivity was 15 weeks, so a rehabbers job is to get
the animal back into nature as soon as possible.
Only problem was a stranger dropped off the colugo at my house and left it
with my son Giddie without saying where they found it, a serious matter if
this is an infant that fell from a tree. In "nutrition" cases, the rehab
issue becomes how much strength the animal loses before it is healthy enough
to release?
When I researched the Colugo and realized its delicate diet, I knew I had to
get it back home immediately. Every day in captivity is a day of energy
loss, a serious matter. The question became "Where was home" and "How old is
this animal?" Is this a baby, or a full grown adult?
Since the colugo was dropped off at my house, I guessed it was from near my
home, and it appeared to be juvenile.
I thought about it for six hours, took these shots along the way, and in the
wee morning hours dropped the colugo on a banana tree up the slope, hoping
the colugo would get a bite to eat, find its family, and fly home. The odds
were small, but the only hope the delicate diet colugo had.
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