Missouri’s occurrence databases hold 57 southern flying squirrel records, split fairly evenly between iNaturalist photos and GBIF entries. A nocturnal glider that’s active after dark and rarely comes down to the ground is always going to be under-recorded next to a squirrel that forages in daylight.
Unbroken canopy over the Ozarks and river bottoms
Mark Twain National Forest’s mature Ozark hardwoods give a flying squirrel what it actually needs: a closed canopy dense enough to glide tree to tree without ever touching the ground. Missouri River corridor parks offer the same kind of connected cover along the bottomlands, where mature trees stand close enough to keep a glide path open. Break that canopy and the species loses its only way of moving through the landscape.
Nesting together through the cold
Southern flying squirrels den in old woodpecker cavities and tree hollows, and through the coldest months several animals often share one den, huddling together for warmth rather than each holding a separate nest. Records here run fairly flat across the year rather than clustering into one season, which fits an animal that’s active on the same nightly schedule in every month rather than showing a single burst of surface activity.
Status in Missouri
NatureServe ranks the southern flying squirrel S4, apparently secure, and it’s native to Missouri with no nonindigenous record from USGS NAS. Wherever the state’s forest canopy stays connected, from Ozark hollows to river-bottom timber, this squirrel has a way to move through it after dark.
