Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Galago mo­holi is found in south­ern Africa from An­gola to Tan­za­nia, in­clud­ing Zim­babwe, the Trans­vaal, and parts of Bu­rundi and Rwanda. ("South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

South African gala­gos in­habit semi-arid wood­lands, sa­vanna wood­lands, gallery forests, and the edges of wooded areas. They are often as­so­ci­ated with Aca­cia trees, the ex­u­dates of which are di­etary sta­ple. South African gala­gos can be found at all lev­els of a for­est canopy, often rest­ing and breed­ing in the holes of Aca­cia trees and the hol­lowed out trunks of mopane (Colophos­per­mum mopane) trees. (Bearer, et al., 2008; Caton, et al., 2000)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

South African gala­gos are small prosimi­ans with a head and body length of 14 to 17 cm. Males are larger, from 160 to 255 g, fe­males are from 142 to 229 g. They have grey to light brown fur that light­ens and takes on a yel­low­ish tinge on the limbs and ven­tral sur­face. They have ex­tremely large ears that have four trans­verse ridges that allow the tips to be bent down al­most all the way to the base. The ears can be moved in­de­pen­dently and are thought to be among the largest ears, pro­por­tion­ate to body size, of all pri­mates. South African gala­gos have huge or­ange eyes that are sur­rounded by a dark mask of fur. The tail is an av­er­age of 11 to 28 cm and is dark in color. Galago mo­holi has the tooth comb and groom­ing claw typ­i­cal of Strep­sir­rhini. In their ear canal the tym­panic ring is fused with the lat­eral wall, like other gala­gos and lorises. They have longer hindlimbs than fore­limbs with an in­ter­mem­bral index of 54 which makes them well adapted for ver­ti­cal cling­ing and leap­ing. South African gala­gos have a chro­mo­some num­ber of 38. ("South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009; Flea­gle, 1999; Har­court and Bearder, 1989)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike
• male larger

• Range mass

  M: 160 F: 142 to M: 255 F:229 g

  to oz

• Average mass

  M: 211 F: 188 g

  oz

• Range length

  140 to 177 mm

  5.51 to 6.97 in

• Average length

  160 mm

  6.30 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  .2850W cm3.O2/g/hr

• Average basal metabolic rate

  0.285 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

South African gala­gos have a polyg­y­nous mat­ing sys­tem with ter­ri­tory of dom­i­nant males over­lap­ping that of sev­eral fe­males. Fe­males have a brief es­trous pe­riod, last­ing 1 to 3 days, dur­ing which males be­come highly com­pet­i­tive, in­creas­ing their home range, body weight, and testes vol­ume. Males ap­pear to fall into two dis­tinct mat­ing strat­egy groups, larger and more dom­i­nant males who mo­nop­o­lize fe­males with re­peated mat­ings and smaller males who are more op­por­tunis­tic. Larger males pro­cure more suc­cess­ful mat­ings. Fe­male G. mo­holi ex­hibit es­trus swellings and do not have syn­chro­nized fer­til­ity. ("South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009; Gron, 2008; Pullen, 2004)

• Mating System
• polygynous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

South African galago fe­males and males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture around 300 days old. There are two mat­ing sea­sons a year cor­re­spond­ing to births be­tween Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary and be­tween Oc­to­ber and No­vem­ber. South African gala­gos may give birth to 2 sets of twins a year. Fe­males con­struct nests in which to give birth to and raise their off­spring. They may make their own, open-topped nest, or take over an un­in­hab­ited bird nest, mat of fo­liage, or tree hol­low. After a 121 to 124 day ges­ta­tion pe­riod, fe­males give birth to off­spring weigh­ing ap­prox­i­mately 10 grams that have their eyes open and are furred. Fe­males give birth to a sin­gle off­spring at their first preg­nancy, then pro­duce twins in sub­se­quent lit­ters. The mother car­ries the ba­bies by the scruff of their necks for the first 50 days. Wean­ing oc­curs after ap­prox­i­mately 93 days. ("South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009; Pullen, 2004; "South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009; de Ma­g­a­l­haes, et al., 2009; Pullen, 2004; "South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi", 2009; de Ma­g­a­l­haes, et al., 2009; Pullen, 2004)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  South African galagos breed twice yearly.

• Breeding season

  South African galagos typically give birth once between January and February and again between October and November.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  2

• Average number of offspring

  2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  121 to 124 days

• Average gestation period

  123 days

• Average weaning age

  93 days

• Average time to independence

  50 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  300 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  300 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  300 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  300 days

  AnAge

The young are born furred and have open eyes at birth. They stay in the nest for the first 10 to 11 days. In cap­tiv­ity the ba­bies are ca­pa­ble of cling­ing to branches within the first day and begin walk­ing in a few days. Fe­males nurse their off­spring for about 11 weeks though young may begin to catch in­sects at 4 weeks of age. Moth­ers park their in­fants in tree forks or tan­gles of veg­e­ta­tion while they for­age. The off­spring will cling qui­etly and un­mov­ing for up to three hours, being checked on oc­ca­sion­ally by the mother. If the in­fant is in dan­ger or left alone too long it will emit dis­tress calls which quickly sum­mon the mother. The fe­male will carry the off­spring to a safer lo­ca­tion if she senses threat. After 10 months young South African gala­gos reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at which point males will em­i­grate. Fe­males often stay with their moth­ers longer. Males do not di­rectly par­tic­i­pate in car­ing for the off­spring. (Gron, 2008)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

South African gala­gos have a max­i­mum recorded lifes­pan of 16.6 years. (de Ma­g­a­l­haes, et al., 2009)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  16.6 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  16.6 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

South African gala­gos live in small so­cial groups. They can be found sleep­ing in groups of 2 to 7 dur­ing the day. These groups are typ­i­cally com­prised of a fe­male and sev­eral of her young. At night the groups sep­a­rate to for­age in­de­pen­dently. South African gala­gos spend ap­prox­i­mately 70% of their wak­ing time alone. The ranges of fe­males are re­lated to age. Fe­males with larger age dif­fer­ences are much more likely to have over­lap­ping ranges. Ag­gres­sive ter­ri­to­r­ial be­hav­ior may be seen at range bor­ders. Dom­i­nance in­ter­ac­tions of males are also based on age. Dom­i­nant males are the only ones that de­fend ter­ri­to­ries and are often the largest and most ag­gres­sive. Ju­ve­nile males em­i­grate from the natal range, trav­el­ing a few kilo­me­ters ei­ther east or west over a few suc­ces­sive nights. When they en­counter an­other mem­ber of their species they will smell and touch noses after which they may groom each other or dis­play ag­gres­sive be­hav­ior. (Bearer, et al., 2008; Flea­gle, 1999; Gron, 2008)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• saltatorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• solitary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

• Average territory size

  6.7 (f) to 11 (m) ha. km^2

Home Range

Dom­i­nant males have ter­ri­to­ries that over­lap those of sev­eral fe­males. The av­er­age home range for a male is 11 ha and a fe­male is 6.7 ha. (Har­court and Bearder, 1989)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

While gen­er­ally liv­ing in small fam­ily groups, South African gala­gos com­mu­ni­cate with one an­other over long dis­tances using loud calls. These calls are thought to main­tain con­tact within a group, ad­ver­tise ter­ri­tory, or serve as an alarm. If an alarm call is heard other South African gala­gos join in and even mob the po­ten­tial preda­tor. Young call to their moth­ers using a click­ing sound. South African gala­gos also em­ploy ol­fac­tory modes of com­mu­ni­ca­tion by "urine wash­ing" their hands and feet. This be­hav­ior is more com­mon in dom­i­nant males. It is also pos­si­ble that the urine on the foot pads helps them to grip branches more eas­ily. They also use al­logroom­ing in so­cial in­ter­ac­tions. (Gron, 2008; Har­court and Bearder, 1989)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

South African gala­gos eat ex­clu­sively arthro­pods and tree ex­u­dates. Arthro­pods, in­clud­ing but­ter­flies, moths and bee­tles, com­prise the ma­jor­ity of the diet. Aca­cia gums also play a large role in the diet, es­pe­cially those from Aca­cia kar­roo, Aca­cia tor­tilis, and Aca­cia nilot­ica. Plant ex­u­dates are scraped from the tree using the tooth-scraper on the lower mandible on nightly vis­its. Gums are re­leased when moth and bee­tle lar­vae bore be­neath the bark of the Aca­cia trees. Gums are avail­able year round and are often re­lied upon more heav­ily dur­ing the win­ter months or in times of re­duced in­sect avail­abil­ity. Galago mo­holi posses phys­i­cal adap­ta­tions for eat­ing plant gums, in­clud­ing a rough, nar­row tongue ca­pa­ble of har­vest­ing gums from in­sect holes and tree crevices, well de­vel­oped tooth-scrap­ers and a pro­por­tion­ally large cecum and hindgut to di­gest com­plex car­bo­hy­drates. Galago mo­holi is a caeco-ansal fer­menter with the cecum, prox­i­mal colon, and ansa coli each pro­vid­ing dis­tinct cham­bers for fer­men­ta­tion. Gums get di­gested in the fluid phase and get fer­mented more quickly that other, more high qual­ity, foods like in­sects. This al­lows South African gala­gos to con­sume a rel­a­tively nu­tri­ent poor diet. (Mzi­likazi, 2006)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore
• herbivore
  • eats sap or other plant foods

• Animal Foods
• reptiles
• insects

• Plant Foods
• sap or other plant fluids

Pre­da­tion

South African gala­gos are preyed on by large birds, in­clud­ing ea­gles and owls, as well as snakes, mon­gooses, and civets and genets. They pro­tect them­selves from pre­da­tion by nest­ing in tree holes and being ac­tive at night. Re­search sug­gests that Galago mo­holi lack sea­sonal tor­por (het­erothermy) to max­i­mize re­pro­duc­tive suc­cess in a high preda­tor en­vi­ron­ment. South African gala­gos avoid pre­da­tion with warn­ing calls among group mem­bers and agile leap­ing. (Gron, 2008; Mzi­likazi, 2006)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • eagles (Accipitridae)
  • owls (Strigiformes)
  • genets and civets (Viverrinae)
  • snakes (Serpentes)
  • mongooses (Herpestidae)

Ecosys­tem Roles

South African gala­gos eat in­sects and pro­vide food for large birds of prey and mid-sized mam­malian preda­tors.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

South African gala­gos ben­e­fit hu­mans eco­nom­i­cally by bring­ing re­searchers and eco­tourists to re­gions they in­habit. They may re­duce in­sect pest pop­u­la­tions.

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism
• research and education
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Galago mo­holi on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

South African gala­gos are on Ap­pen­dix II of CITES which in­di­cates they are cur­rently at low risk for ex­tinc­tion and the IUCN Red List in­di­cates they have a sta­ble pop­u­la­tion with­out major threats. In fact, the range of G. mo­holi is ex­pand­ing in some areas.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

Con­trib­u­tors

The­rien Poyn­ter (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Ore­gon, Stephen Frost (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Ore­gon, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ref­er­ences

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2009. "South­ern lesser bush baby, South African galago Galago mo­holi" (On-line). BBC- Sci­ence & Na­ture- Wild­facts. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2009 at http://​www.​bbc.​co.​uk/​nature/​wildfacts/​factfiles/​329.​shtml.

Bearder, S., R. Mar­tin. 1980. Aca­cia Gum and Its Use by Bush­ba­bies, Galago sene­galen­sis (Pri­mates:Lorisidae). In­ter­na­tional Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 1/2: 103-128.

Bearer, S., T. Bu­tyn­ski, M. Hoff­mann. 2008. "2008 IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Galago mo­holi. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 16, 2009 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org.

Caton, J., M. Lawes, C. Cun­ning­ham. 2000. Di­ges­tive strat­egy of the south-east African lesser bush­baby, Galago mo­holi.. Com­par­a­tive bio­chem­istry and phys­i­ol­ogy. Part A, Mol­e­c­u­lar & in­te­gra­tive phys­i­ol­ogy, 127/1: 39-48.

Flea­gle, J. 1999. Pri­mate Adap­ta­tion and Evo­lu­tion, Sec­ond Edit.. San Diego: Aca­d­e­mic Press.

Gron, K. 2008. "Pri­mate Fact­sheets: Lesser bush­baby (Galago) Be­hav­ior" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2009 at http://​pin.​primate.​wisc.​edu/​factsheets/​entry/​lesser_​bushbaby/​behav.

Gron, K. 2008. "Pri­mate Fact­sheets: Lesser bush­baby (Galago) Con­ser­va­tion" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2009 at http://​pin.​primate.​wisc.​edu/​factsheets/​entry/​lesser_​bushbaby/​cons.

Gron, K. 2008. "Pri­mate Fact­sheets: Lesser bush­baby (Galago) Tax­on­omy, Mor­phol­ogy, & Ecol­ogy." (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2009 at http://​pin.​primate.​wisc.​edu/​factsheets/​entry/​lesser_​bushbaby.

Har­court, C., S. Bearder. 1989. A Com­par­i­son of Galago mo­holi in South Africa with Galago zanz­ibar­i­cus in Kenya. In­ter­na­tional Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 10/1: 35-45.

Mzi­likazi, 2006. Lack of tor­por in free-rang­ing south­ern lesser gala­gos, Galago mo­holi: Eco­log­i­cal and phys­i­o­log­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions. Folia pri­ma­to­log­ica, 77/6: 465-476.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of The World, 6th Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Pullen, 2004. Male mat­ing be­hav­iour and re­pro­duc­tive suc­cess in the lesser Galago (Galago mo­holi). Folia pri­ma­to­log­ica, 75/Suppl. 1: 89.

Pullen, S., S. Bearder, A. Dix­son. 2000. Pre­lim­i­nary Ob­ser­va­tions on Sex­ual Be­hav­ior and the Mat­ing Sys­tem in Free-rang­ing Lesser Gala­gos (Galago mo­holi). Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 51: 79-88.

de Ma­g­a­l­haes, J., A. Bu­dovski, G. Lehmann,Fraifeld, V., Church, G. M., J. Costa, J, Y. Li, V. Fraifeld. 2009. The Human Age­ing Ge­nomic Re­sources: on­line data­bases and tools for biogeron­tol­o­gists. Aging Cell, 8/1: 65-72.