Animal Of The Day

The Bush Baby(Galago)

Galagos /ɡəˈleɪɡoʊz/, also known as bush babies, or nagapies (meaning "little night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primatesnative to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are sometimes included as a subfamily within the Lorisidae or Loridae.

According to some accounts, the name "bushbaby" comes from either the animal's cries or its appearance. The Afrikaans name nagapie is because they are almost exclusively seen at night, while the Ghanaian name aposor is given to them because of their firm grip on branches.

In both variety and abundance, the bushbabies are the most successful strepsirrhine primates in Africa, according to the African Wildlife Foundation.

Characteristics

Galagos have large eyes that give them good night vision in addition to other characteristics, like strong hind limbs, acute hearing, and long tails that help them balance. Their ears are bat-like and allow them to track insects in the dark. They catch insects on the ground or snatch them out of the air. They are fast, agile creatures. As they bound through the thick bushes, they fold their delicate ears back to protect them. They also fold them during rest. They have nails on most of their digits, except for the second toe of the hind foot, which bears a grooming claw. Their diet is a mixture of insects and other small animals, fruit, and tree gums. They have pectinate (comb-like) incisors called toothcombs, and the dental formula: 2.1.3.32.1.3.3 They hide by day and are active at night.

After a gestation period of 110–133 days, young galagos are born with half-closed eyes and are initially unable to move about independently. After a few (6–8) days, the mother carries the infant in her mouth, and places it on branches while feeding. Females may have singles, twins, or triplets, and may become very aggressive. Each newborn weighs less than half an ounce. For the first three days, the infant is kept in constant contact with the mother. The young are fed by the mother for six weeks and can feed themselves at two months. The young grow rapidly, often causing the mother to walk awkwardly as she transports them.

Females maintain a territory, but share them with their offspring. Males leave their mothers' territories after puberty, but females remain, forming social groups consisting of closely related females and their young. Adult males maintain separate territories, which overlap with those of the female social groups; generally, one adult male mates with all the females in an area. Males that have not established such territories sometimes form small bachelor groups.

While keeping them as pets is not advised (like many other nonhuman primates, they are considered likely sources of diseases that can cross species barriers), it is certainly done. Equally, they are highly likely to attract attention from customs officials on importation into many countries. Reports from veterinary and zoological sources indicate captive lifetimes of 12.0 to 16.5 years, suggesting a natural lifetime over a decade.

Galagos communicate both by calling to each other, and by marking their paths with urine. By following the scent of urine, they can land on exactly the same branch every time. All species of galago produce species-specific 'loud calls' or 'advertisement calls'. These calls have multiple different functions. One function is long-distance identification and differentiation of individual species, and scientists are now able to recognize all known galago species by their 'loud calls'. At the end of the night, group members use a special rallying call and gather to sleep in a nest made of leaves, a group of branches, or a hole in a tree.

Jumping

Galagos have remarkable jumping abilities. The highest reliably reported jump for a galago is 2.25 m. According to a study published by the Royal Society, given the body mass of each animal and the fact that the leg muscles amount to about 25% of this, galago's jumping muscles should perform six to nine times better than those of a frog. This is thought to be due to elastic energy storage in tendons of the lower leg, allowing far greater jumps than would otherwise be possible for an animal of their size.^[7] In mid-flight, they tuck their arms and legs close to the body; they are then brought out at the last second to grab the branch. In a series of leaps, a galago can cover ten yards in mere seconds. The tail, which is longer than the length of the head and body combined, assists the powerful leg muscles in powering the jumps. They may also hop like a kangaroo or simply run/walk on four legs. Such strong, complicated, and coordinated movements are due to the rostral half of the posterior parietal cortex that is linked to the motor, premotor, and visuomotor areas of the frontal cortex.

Myths

The bush baby also refers to a myth that is used to scare children to stay indoors at night. Most likely arising from the baby-like cry, the unusual nature evolved into a myth about a powerful animal that can kidnap humans. It is also said that wild bush babies/galagos in Nigeria can never be found dead on plain ground. Rather, they always make a nest out of sticks/leaves/branches and die on it. Endangerment of the species, however, in sub-Saharan Africa has made this claim difficult to verify.

Social structure

Generally, the social structure of the galago has components of both social life and solitary life. This can be seen in their play. They swing off branches or climb high and throw things. Social play includes play fights, play grooming, and following-play. During following-play, two galagos jump sporadically and chase each other through the trees. The older galagos in a group prefer to rest alone, while younger ones are in constant contact with one another. This is observed in the Galago garnetti species. Mothers often leave infants alone for long periods of time and do not attempt to stop infants from leaving them. On the other hand, the offspring tries to stay close to the mother and initiates actions of maintaining close proximity and activating social interactions with the mother.

Grooming is a very important part of galago daily life. They often autogroom before, during, and after rest. Social grooming is performed more often by males in the group. Females often reject the attempts made by the males to groom them.

Habitat

This species remains widespread throughout much of its historical distribution. Kirk’s dik-diks occur in two separate regions: East Africa, from southern Somalia to central Tanzania and in Southern Africa from northern Namibia and parts of southwestern Angola. They tend to live in habitats with good cover but without tall herbage. They move to different ranges when grass grows too high and obstructs their view.

Behaviour

Bush babies survive by hiding.

This antelope is shy and elusive, concealing themselves in brush most of the time. They have well-developed sight, scent, and hearing. When dik-diks feel they’re in danger or hear the alarm calls from other animals, they hide instead of fleeing from predators. And when frightened or disturbed, they make a whistling sound through their nose that sounds like “zik-zik,” and this is probably how they got their name.

These antelopes mate for life and live together in low bush areas along dry, rocky stream beds. They are rarely seen apart from their partners. Mostly nocturnal, they avoid the heat of the day; this also helps them prevent unnecessary water loss.

Thanks to an evolved cooling mechanism, bush babies are water-independent.

Because of their body’s evolved cooling ability, they are water-independent, getting water from the vegetation they eat — such as foliage, shoots, fruit, and berries. This small antelope’s metabolic requirement per kilogram is so high that it must consume more food per kilogram of its body weight than their larger hoofed mammal cousins

Credits: Wikipedia, African Wildlife Conservation

Written By David Davidson

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