The southern flying squirrel has 68 open occurrence records in West Virginia, with the state’s listed hotspot at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and more scattered through the Ohio River valley and Chief Logan State Park. That’s a measure of how often people find or trap this nocturnal glider, not how many live in the state.
Hardwood mast country, not the high spruce
Unlike the state’s red squirrel, which sticks close to the relict spruce stands of the Alleghenies, the southern flying squirrel favors mature oak-hickory and other mast-producing hardwoods at lower elevation. That puts its best West Virginia habitat in the Ridge-and-Valley forests around Harpers Ferry and the rolling hardwood hill country along the Ohio River, where old cavity trees and a steady acorn and hickory nut crop supply both food and den sites.
Social in winter, gliding after dark
This squirrel is entirely nocturnal, gliding between trees on a fold of skin stretched from wrist to ankle, and it’s unusually social for a squirrel: in cold months several individuals often den together in one tree cavity to share body heat. That habit keeps it hidden through the coldest stretch of the year, which may help explain why West Virginia’s records show none at all in January despite the species being around year-round.
Status in West Virginia
NatureServe ranks the southern flying squirrel S5, secure, and it’s native to the state. Its dependence on cavity trees and a reliable nut crop ties its future to how much old, mast-producing hardwood forest West Virginia keeps standing.
