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Many of the squirrel‐related rodents (i.e., Sciuromorpha) are tree‐dwelling species known to be very agile climbers. This taxon also includes the most diverse clade of gliding (aerial) mammals that likely descended from a non‐gliding arboreal ancestor and evolved a patagium (i.e., a gliding membrane) to increase gliding performance. Glides can cover distances of up to 150 m and landing is typically accomplished by stalling the patagium to reduce impact velocity. It remains unclear if this behavior suffices to keep stresses on the locomotor apparatus similar to those experienced by their arboreal relatives or whether gliding behavior increases landing forces and stresses. The sparsely available support reaction force data are ambiguous, but bone microstructure is highly adaptable to changes in loading regime and likely provides insights into this question. Using μCT scans, we compared the cortical thickness of …