As a zookeeper, it is an unwritten rule that you can’t have favourite animals and to be honest most days, if you asked me, I would have a different answer for you each time anyway.
I absolutely love the chimps and their different personalities and group dynamics. I’m in love with the mischievous mini monkeys I talked about in my last blog. I adore working with the non-primates on our section too, Sid the Sloth and Jose the armadillo. But if truth be told, they’re all beaten by the elusive bushbabies! They melt my heart with their extreme cuteness and beautifully soft fur. They may not rate particularly high in others’ favourites as you don’t get to spend a great deal of time with them or even see them very often but I’m going to dedicate this blog to talking about one of the best primates in the world!
There are around 20 species of bushbabies, also known as Galago or Nagapies which means “night monkeys” in Afrikaans (not to be confused with our actual South American Night Monkey). They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and nearby islands such as Zanzibar; they have evolved to survive in every kind of habitat on the continent. The brown-greater bushbaby is found in the tropical and subtropical forests. While species such as the Somali bushbaby prefers dry and thorny habitats. Whereas the South African galago often hang out in the acacia trees of the savanna.
At Wingham Wildlife Park we are home to 11 Senegal or Lesser bushbaby. Four males (Andrew, Derek, Roger and Nick) can be found be after dark in the Sloth enclosure upstairs in the chimp house. Plus, a mixed group reside inside the Tropical House waiting for the lorikeets to quieten down so they can come out to play. Their names are Ariel, Eric, Sebastian, Max and as yet there are three unnamed youngsters.
Appearance
All species of galago are nocturnal, meaning they have large saucer-like eyes giving them amazing night vision. They have strong hind legs, perfect for leaping from tree to tree up to 2.5 meters at a time and long tails to help with balancing. The large muscle mass in those strong back legs equate to a third of its entire bodyweight. They definitely didn’t miss leg day at the gym!
More impressively however, they have large, collapsible ears which are each made up of four segments and can rotate independently like radar dishes to help with night-time hunting of insects. They will also fold these ears back against their head to keep the noise out during the day so they can get some sleep.
They are one of the smallest primates measuring at around 13cm high and weighing up to 300 grams. Their thick fluffy fur ranges from silvery grey to dark brown in colour. Plus, they have extra tufts of hair on the end of their tails.
The name “bush baby” may come either from the animals’ cries or from their appearance. Due to many of the species looking so similar, scientists use their calls- which sound like the cry of a newborn baby- to differentiate between the closely related species.
Bush Baby Behaviour
Bushbabies communicate both by calling to each other and by marking their paths with urine. They will wee directly on their hands and spread the scent about that way.
Bushbabies are extremely vocal; if there’s a predator in the area, they signal each other with chattering, clicking and clucking sounds. This gives other galagoes a chance to hide from the danger.
Alternatively, a female bush baby and her mate may signal to each other by making sounds in the treetops. A group of bush babies may also use their vocalizations to confuse a predator wandering nearby. At the end of the night, group members use a special rallying call and gather to sleep in a nest made of leaves, crooks of trees, tangles of vegetation, or in a tree hollow. Senegal galagoes have also been known to reuse old bird’s nests or abandoned beehives for shelter.
Family groups of two to seven bush babies will frequently spend the day nestled together in their hollow but will split up at night to look for food. They have an omnivorous diet consisting of insects, fruit, seeds, flowers, eggs, nuts, and tree gums. They extract the gum by gouging holes in trees and scraping the bark, using their specialised toothcombs (forward-tilted lower incisor and canine teeth).
Some of the larger galago species will even hunt small animals, such as frogs and birds. Our bushbaby group at WWP love a feast of locusts. They can often be seen hopping around the floor after them and even catching them mid-air as they jump!
The Bush baby can reproduce twice a year, at the beginning of the rainy season (November) and the end (February). They are polygynous, and the females raise their young in nests. They have 1 or 2 babies per litter, with gestation period being 3-4 months. Bushbabies are born with half-closed eyes and are unable to move about independently. After a few days, the mother carries the infant in her mouth, and leaves it on convenient branches while feeding nearby.
Adult females maintain territories but share them with their offspring. Males leave their mothers’ territories after puberty. However, females remain, forming social groups consisting of closely related females and their immature 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 who have not established such territories sometimes form small bachelor groups.
Danger!
The best defences a lesser galago has against predators are its speed and ability to move through the trees. When leaping and jumping in a forest canopy, these primates fold those wonderful large ears back against their head. This ensures that they won’t be bashed by passing branches. Being active at night makes it a little easier for them to hide but of course, they are pursued by some predators that can also see very well in the dark.
Predators include mongooses, genets, jackals, domestic dogs and cats, owls, and snakes. Several other primates have also been observed eating bush babies, such as grey-cheeked mangabeys and blue monkeys.
There’s even evidence that chimpanzees fashion spears to kill and extract bush babies from their burrows. A recent study of the Western Chimpanzee has revealed that local chimps hunt the Senegal bushbaby using fashioned spears. During the study it was observed that the chimps searched for hollows where a bush baby might reasonably be expected to sleep. Once such a roost was found, the chimps broke a branch from a nearby tree and sharpened the end using their teeth. They would then rapidly and repeatedly stab into the roost. After a period of stabbing, they removed the wooden spear and tasted or smelled the tip, presumably seeking blood. Once success was confirmed in such a manner they reached into or smashed the roost, retrieved the body of the bushbaby and ate it.
Thankfully our bush baby group are kept very well secluded from the chimps. The biggest thing they have to worry about is not being sat on by a lazy sloth!
