Southern flying squirrel records in Arkansas are sparse, just 92 in the open databases, which fits a species that glides through the forest canopy after dark and rarely crosses paths with anyone during the day. Buffalo National River, Ozark National Forest, and Devil’s Den State Park account for most of what’s been reported.
A glider that needs an unbroken canopy
A flap of skin between wrist and ankle lets a flying squirrel glide, not fly, from a launch tree to a landing trunk lower down, sometimes covering more than 100 feet in one pass. That only works where the canopy stays connected tree to tree, which the mature oak-hickory forest along the Buffalo River bluffs and through the Boston Mountains still provides in long, unbroken stretches. The squirrels nest in cavities, often an old woodpecker hole, and in winter several animals will pack into one den together to share body heat through cold nights.
Records that likely undercount a shy, nocturnal animal
Reports stay fairly steady across most months but tick up in December, a pattern that lines up less with more squirrels being active than with more people watching for them. Flying squirrels are known to visit backyard bird feeders after dark in winter, which is often how casual observers notice them at all. Because the species is nocturnal, communal, and easy to miss even where it’s present, a low record count here says more about how hard the animal is to observe than about how many actually live in these forests.
Status in Arkansas
NatureServe ranks the southern flying squirrel S5, secure, in Arkansas, and it’s native across its range in the state. Wherever the Ozark and Boston Mountains forest canopy stays unbroken enough to glide through, the habitat this species needs is still in place.
