Colugos, constituting the obscure and tiny order Dermoptera, are gliding mammals confined to evergreen tropical rainforests of South-East Asia. They differ from other gliding mammals (certain rodents and marsupials) in that the patagium also extends between the hind limbs and the short tail, even stretching between fingers and toes (hence the name 'mitten-gliders').
The treeshrews (or tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia. Though called 'treeshrews', and despite having previously been classified in Insectivora, they are not true shrews, and not all species live in trees. They are omnivores; among other things, treeshrews eat fruit. Among orders of mammals, treeshrews are closely related to primates, and have been used as an alternative to primates in experimental studies of myopia, psychosocial stress, and hepatitis.[5]
The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event occurred at 65 million years ago, due to both large scale volcanic activities in the Deccan traps over a period of time, and the final asteroid impact event which created the Chicxulub Crater. The sudden temperature change and sunlight reduction caused massive disruptions to Earth's ecosystem. As a result, all dinosaurs except the birds, as well as numerous other species went extinct. The disappearance of dinosaurs made it possible for many different species of shrew-like, nocturnal insectivores to evolve into hippos, lions, elephants, etc. to fill the new ecological voids, an example of evolutionary radiation.
The tree shrews resemble the squirrels. The colugos resemble flying squirrels. In both cases, the resemblance is only superficial, due to convergence; the squirrels are rodents. At the present, scientists are not yet sure about the exact relationships among the tree shrews, the colugos and us.