Galago
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 Brown Greater Galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus)
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Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagidae. They are sometimes included as a subfamily within the Lorisidae or Loridae.
The name bush baby may come either from the animals' cries, or from their appearance. The South African Afrikaans name "nagapie" (night monkey), comes from the fact that they are almost exclusively seen at night.
Galagos are agile leapers, and run swiftly along branches. They have large eyes that give them good night vision, strong hind limbs, acute hearing, and long tails that help them balance. Their diet is a mixture of insects and other small animals, fruit, and tree gums.
Bush babies are born with half-closed eyes, 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.
Females maintain territories, 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 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.
While their keeping as pets is not advised (like many other non-human primates, they are considered likely sources of zoonoses, diseases that can cross species barriers) it is certainly done. Equally, they're highly likely to attract attention from customs officials on importation into many countries. Reports from veterinary and zoological sources indicate captive lifetimes of 12 to 16.5 years, suggesting a natural lifetime of the order of a decade.
Galagos communicate both by calling to each other, and by marking their paths with urine. 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.
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[edit] Classification
There has been much recent study of the Galagonidae. Several new species have been discovered, and they are now grouped into three genera, with the two former members of the now defunct genus Galagoides returned to their original genus Galago:
- ORDER PRIMATES
- Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
- Family Cheirogaleidae: dwarf and mouse lemurs
- Family Lemuridae: lemurs
- Family Lepilemuridae: sportive lemurs
- Family Indriidae: wooly lemurs and allies
- Family Daubentoniidae: Aye-aye
- Family Lorisidae: lorises, pottos and allies
- Family Galagidae: galagos
- Suborder Haplorrhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
- Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
[edit] Genomics
A low-coverage genomic sequence of the Northern Greater Galago, Otolemur garnettii, is in progress. As a 'primitive' primate, the sequence will be particularly useful in bridging the sequences of higher primates (macaque, chimp, human) to close non-primates such as rodents. The 2x planned coverage will not be sufficient to create a full genome assembly, but will provide comparative data across most of the human assembly.
[edit] References
- Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 123-127. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
[edit] External links
| Extant primate families by suborder |
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| Strepsirrhini: Cheirogaleidae · Lemuridae · Lepilemuridae · Indriidae · Daubentoniidae · Lorisidae · Galagidae
Haplorrhini: Tarsiidae · Cebidae · Aotidae · Pitheciidae · Atelidae · Cercopithecidae · Hylobatidae · Hominidae |
