Bush Babies carry their own combs

Bush babies have many wonderful adaptations, like carrying their own combs. Bush babies or Galagos, as well as Lemurs and Loris, have front teeth evolved to help grooming. Galagos also have a small cartilage bone under their tongues. It is like a second tongue for cleaning as well.

These tiny primates or prosimians, have very strong muscles in their back legs. So, they can jump the equivalent of nine times their body length—more than seven feet (or over two meters). This is longer than any frog can. Bush baby species are very small and differ in size from three to ten oz (or 100-300 g).

It is the eyes that most people remember when seeing a bush baby. They are incredibly large—designed to let in enough light to hunt bugs at night. Galagos can see so very well, and can grab an insect while it is on the wing.

Their antenna-like ears can be folded down for safety when they jump, and also when sleeping. Bush babies have only two claws, one on each of their hind feet. So, what allows them to grip trees firmly are small circular pads of thickened skin at the end of their digits. Hind claws are used for grooming instead.

A very long tail helps the bush baby make tremendous leaps. When compared to the length of their bodies, their tails are longer. The tail can also be used to gain acceleration when it is moving quickly.

Galagos are part of the galagoide and paragalago genera. It is thought that the name bush baby comes from its large eyes that are like a baby. Or, perhaps, the call of the animal, which sounds like an infant’s cry. In South Africa they are called night monkeys (or nagapies), while in Ghana they are referred to as apasors from the way they grip branches.

Bush babies are found in sub-Saharan African rainforests, bush, and savannah. Smaller species eat tree gum, insects, and fruit. While larger ones catch birds and frogs to eat. Predators include chimpanzees, snakes, owls, mongooses, and dog and cat species.

Once a male reaches maturity at about nine months of age, they leave to join bachelor groups. While females stay with their mothers and form small packs of about seven members. In order to keep warm at night, they often huddle together to conserve body heat.

Newborns weigh only about 10 to 15 g (0.35 to 0.5 oz), and are carried around by their mothers in their mouths, for several days. Only when eating, do the galagos moms put down their infants.

Bush babies mate starting near the beginning of the year, and after about four months gestation, infants are born from April to November. Galagos can live about ten years in the wild.

Sources

Galago senegalensis Senegal galago. (2020). Animal Diversity Web: Regents of the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology.  https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Galago_senegalensis/

Fascinating Facts: Bushbabies. (2024). Wildark. https://wildark.org/journals/fascinating-facts-bushbabies/

Bush babies. (2015-2024) National Geographic Partners, LLC. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/bushbabies

Galago. (2024, February 3). Wikipedia: Wikimedia Foundation Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galago

Galago Facts. (2024). Fact Animal. https://factanimal.com/galago/