By Deborah Ciszek
Geographic Range
Tropical Africa, from Guinea to western Kenya and central Zaire.
Habitat
Dense tropical forests. Usually found in trees 5 to 30 meters tall. They are arboreal and nocturnal.
Terrestrial Biomes:
rainforest 
.
Physical Description
Head and body length 300 to 390mm, tail length is moderate, 37 to 100mm. Their woolly, dense coat comes in a variety of shades of brown, and their underside is usually lighter than their back. Their feet are well adapted to clasping branches. The thumbs and big toes are oriented at almost a 180 degree angle to the other fingers, and the first (index) finger is reduced in size to a small stub. This gives their hands and feet the shape of a clamp. Furthermore, Pottos have areas for blood storage in their hands and feet. This lets them hold on to branches for extended periods of time without experiencing muscle fatigue. The second toe on their feet has a claw used in grooming, but all of their other digits have flattened nails as in humans.
Some key physical features:
endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .
Reproduction
This species is most likely polygynous, as each male has a home range overlapping those of several females.
Mating systems:
polygynous .
Births take place in August through January, after a gestation of 170 days. The female's estrus cycle is about 39 days long. Young are weaned at 4 or 5 months of age, from January to March, which is when fruit is most abundant in the forests where the animals live.
Key reproductive features:
iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous .
The female's single young clings to the hairs of her underbelly until it is about 3 weeks old. After that, the mother leaves it hanging from a hidden branch to wait safely while she forages at night, then she brings it back to the nest in the morning to sleep through the day. Sometimes offspring near the age of weaning ride on their mother's back.
Juveniles attain their adult size when they are 8 to 14 months old and become sexually mature at 18 months old. Males leave their mother's home range before that, however, at only 6 months of age.
Parental investment:
pre-fertilization (protecting: female, female); pre-hatching/birth (provisioning: female, female, protecting: female, female); pre-weaning/fledging (provisioning: female, female, protecting: female, female); pre-independence (provisioning: female, female, protecting: female, female); extended period of juvenile learning.
Behavior
Pottos live at a population density of about 8 to 10 individuals per square kilometer. Each female defends a home range large enough (6 to 9 hectares) to support themselves and their young. Adult males attempt to defend larger home ranges, from 9 to 40 hectares, from which they exclude other males but which encompass the ranges of several females. Contact between the males and females is made only during the night; they do not sleep together during the day. Pottos communicate with each other using a variety of vocalizations and by leaving urine trails, which carry information in the scent, on branches.
Key behaviors:
nocturnal ; motile ; solitary ; territorial .
Food Habits
Mostly fruits, also some tree gum and some insects (it laps up ants with its tongue). Pottos can kill and eat small or young vertebrates, also.
Animal Foods:
insects.
Plant Foods:
fruit; sap or other plant fluids.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Pottos disperse the seeds of the fruits that they eat. They may be hunted by humans for food in some areas.
Conservation Status
Pottos are classified under CITES Appendix II.
Other Comments
Pottos move very slowly through the trees, but when they are close enough to an insect or other prey item they can snatch it very quickly with either their hands or their mouths.
Contributors
Deborah Ciszek (author), University of Michigan.
