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Senegalese bushbaby - GALAGO SENEGALENSIS
Possibly Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The word "Bushbaby": "Bush baby" derives its name from its small, baby-like appearance, and it's found in bushes. It is also called a "galago" which is an African word for "monkey."
Description: This bushbaby is generally gray with yellowish highlights and with a light-colored stripe between the eyes. Some are various shades of brown. The fur is short and very soft. The very long tail has a darker tip, and the back feet are elongated with short toes. The ears are very large, naked, and mobile, and the face is flattened. Length of head and body 8 in, tail 10 in, weight about one pound.
Location: Various parts of Africa south of the Sahara.
Habitat: Arboreal and terrestrial. Scrub-strewn savanna and dry forests.
Behavior: The Senegalese bushbaby is nocturnal, sometimes sleeping en masse in large groups during the hours of daylight. By night it moves about either alone or in pairs, creeping nimbly among the branches of trees. It is essentially tree-dwelling, but can also move about on the ground without any difficulty, sometimes jumping as far as 10 to 13 feet. Its specially adapted hands enable it to cling firmly to branches. It also uses its hands to seek out and catch insects on the wing, to defend itself, and to build its nest. Its favorite foods are grasshoppers and other insects, but it also eats fruit, small birds, tree sap, and eggs.
Reproduction: After a gestation period of about 110 days a single young (occasionally twins) is born. For two weeks the young is carried about clinging to the back of its mother.
Go to the Primates Page to learn more about the other man-like animals.
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