Flying squirrel spotted in Moscow for the first time

Novo-Peredelkino residents claim to have seen a flying squirrel in Ulyanovsky Park. This squirrel has never been found in Moscow area before. It is red-listed in Moscow, Ryazan, Smolensk and Tver regions.

A squirrel owes its name to a peculiar body structure. This nocturnal animal uses its side skin folds to jump up to 50 m high.

Young flying squirrels have been spotted near Borovskoye Highway. Apparently, they often come from the Moscow region. According to Mospriroda experts, local flying squirrels breed in old hollow trees growing in the centre of Ulyanovsky Park.

This kind of squirrels prefer dense forests. They have been red-listed due to the decrease in their number caused by harvest cutting. A couple of squirrels have two to five young per year.

The animals feed on berries, mushrooms, birch catkins, buds and leaves. For the first time, a flying squirrel was spotted near the bird feeder regularly supplied by visitors to the park.

Thanks to forest conservation in Ulyanovsky Park and local residents' care, other animal and bird species such as  weasel, blue hare, common partridge, grouse, woodcock, goshawk, buzzard, black woodpecker, owls, grass snake and others can find their comfortable home, too.