Lorises

Unlike the other lorisids, galagos, or bushbabies as they are called because of their infant-like mewing sound and sheer cuteness, reside in the lower levels of the forest. The Galaginae are known for the swiftness of their movements, which lets them capture flying insects as they zip past in midair. The commotion they make while leaping may be deliberate in that it sends disturbed insects into flight. Many jumps have been spotted as long as 15 ft (4.6 m).

Unlike most bushbabies, Allen's bushbaby, Galago alleni, eats on the ground, where it listens for rustling insects with large, mobile ears. The ears of a galago are so important that they can fold, like an accordion, when the little animal is moving through prickly or otherwise dangerous leaves.

Galagos have longer legs compared to arms than any other primate. This allows them to make vertical leaps, from tree to tree, farther than most other primates. The tips of the fingers are broadened into soft pads that help them cling to branches. Their bushy tails are used to balance them during leaping. Galagos, like the other lorisids, mark their trails through the forest with urine, which they deposit directly into the bottom of one foot while standing on the other. When they hunt at night, they communicate with a variety of sounds. Then, at dawn, they gather and locate a communal sleeping hole, where they spend the daytime hours.

Mother bushbabies usually give birth to twins, which she carries in her mouth for the first two weeks. When she leaves to eat, she parks them securely on a wide branch. A female galago, her infants, and older female offspring occupy a specific territory which they protect from outsider females. Several of these female enclaves may be located within the much larger territory of one dominant male. However, that male may lose his harem to another male the following year if he cannot put up a fierce enough fight.

Some authorities place all galagos in one genus, Galago. Others give most of them separate genera, as shown here. The smallest galago, called the dwarf or Demidoff's galago (Galagoides demidovii), of East and West Africa is very much like the mouse lemur. It weighs only 2 oz (57 g). The largest is the fat-tailed galago (Galago crassicaudatus), which is about the size of a small cat with a very bushy tail. This species is found mostly in Africa south of the Sahara.

The lesser bushbaby (Galago senegalensis) of the African rainforests is about 15 in (38 cm) long, including a 9 in (23-cm) tail, and weighs about 8.8 oz (250 g). It has the amazing ability to leap straight up to a height of almost 7 ft (2.13 m). On the ground, they leap like kangaroos, using both hind legs in one movement. The greater bushbaby, Otolemur crassicaudatus, lives in equatorial Africa in more open land than the other bush-babies. At almost 30 in (76 cm) and weighing almost 4 lb (1.8 kg), it is much larger.

The forest canopy of the rain forest of Gabon and Cameroon between the Niger and Zaire Rivers is the habitat of the two species of strange little needle-nailed galagos (Euoticus elegantulus). Their nails are modified into sharp points for use in climbing tall tree trunks to reach gum-producing parts of the trees. As is common in prosimians, only the second toe still bears a toilet claw. These animals are reddish in color, fading to a gray underneath. They do not curl up in holes in trees or build nests.

The main protection that lorisids have from direct harm by humans is that they are so difficult to see. Thus they are not hunted as larger monkeys are. However, their forest habitat is readily degraded.