Although they may look strikingly similar (or indubitably the same) flying squirrels and sugar gliders are distant cousins. Flying squirrels are mammal like, and sugar gliders are marsupial like. By this I mean the offspring of flying squirrels are born and nourished inside of a placenta that is within the mammal (like humans), where as sugar gliders' offspring are born thin and crawl into their mothers pouch (like kangaroos) to be nourished.