Northern greater galago

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Northern greater galago [1]
Garnett's Galago (Greater Bushbaby).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Galagidae
Genus: Otolemur
Species:
O. garnettii
Binomial name
Otolemur garnettii
(Ogilby, 1838)
Northern Greater Galago area.png
Northern greater galago range

The northern greater galago (Otolemur garnettii), also known as Garnett's greater galago, Garnett's galago, or the small-eared greater galago, is a nocturnal, arboreal primate endemic to Africa.

Contents

Subspecies

Four subspecies of Otolemur garnettii are recognized:

Physical characteristics

This species has a large body size relative to other galagos. The ears are small relative to the round head with short, wide snout. The eyes are large and binocular. [3] The dentition formula is 2:1:3:3. [4]

The coloration depends upon subspecies: O. g. garnetti exhibits green-tinged reddish brown dorsal pelage. The ventral side is yellow and the terminal half of the tail is black. O. g. lasiotis has lighter and more gray toned fur than O. g. garnetti. The ventral side is white and the tail's terminal end of the tail is only slightly darker than the rest with a white tip. O. g. kikuyuensis exhibits iron gray fur tinged with green on its back, flanks and limbs. The ventral side is yellow-white. The tail is usually light brown with the terminal quarter being black. O. g. panganiensis is reddish brown to gray lacking the greenish hints in other species, while the ventral surface varies from white to yellow. The terminal quarter of the tail is dark brown or black. [4]

The northern greater galago has a head-and-body length of 23–34 cm (26 cm average), a tail length of 31–44 cm (average 36 cm) and body weight of 0.5–1 kg (mean 0.75 kg). [3] This species exhibits significant degree of sexual size dimorphism with males larger than the females. This is due to bimaturism, where males have a longer period of growth and have an average 19% greater body mass than females. [5] The average male is 794 g and the average adult female is 734 g. [4]

Distribution and habitat

The species is found in coastal regions of East Africa ranging from the Juba River in Somalia to the Ruvuma River in Tanzania. It also can be found inland throughout the Kenyan highlands and on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. [3] The species is restricted to coastal and riverine forests or Kenyan highland forest. It does not inhabit woodland savannah. [3] The actual geographic range of each subspecies is as follows: O. g. garnetti is restricted to Zanzibar and the Pemba Islands. O. g. lasiotis is found along the Kenyan coast as far north as the Juba River and south to Tanga Region, Tanzania. Its range extends inland to the Taita Hills and Kibwezi. O. g. kikuyuensis is found in the Kenyan Highlands. O. g. panganiensis is found throughout Tanzania from the border of Mozambique north to Tanga. [4]

Behavior and diet

The northern greater galago is a nocturnal predominantly arboreal primate. During the day, they sleep alone in trees and emerge at night. They tend to focus on a particular portion of their home range for several nights while foraging, then move on to concentrate on a new section after a short time. [4] They are quadrupedal and are capable of hopping short distances from tree to tree. Unlike their larger relatives the brown greater galagos, northern greater galagos can land hind feet first when leaping. [3] Their diet consists primarily of fruit and insects, approximately a 50/50 mix. [6] They are capable of learned behaviors to fish and consume mollusks when available. [4]

Territory and social behavior

Greater northern galagos are solitary and live and forage in their home range marked by urine and scent gland on chest. Males and females disperse from their birth territory, with males doing so earlier and moving farther away. [4] Males and females do not have ranges that overlap with same sex and same-aged individuals. Males have territories that overlap with several females. However, females tend to be dominant over males. Males tend to follow females around and females show more aggression to transient individuals passing through their home territory than do males. [4] These species are less social compared to Otolemur crassicaudatus likely due to the fact they are frugivorous. It is more profitable to exclude non related individuals from areas where fruit is available. [4] They still exhibit some social play. Social grooming is not present instead reciprocal licking performs function of grooming while minimizing social interaction. [4]

Reproduction morphology and behavior

Male galago species possess very distinctive penile morphology that can be used to classify species. [7] The northern greater galago penis is on average 18 mm in length and width of shaft is even from body to bottom of tip. The baculum is clearly visible at the tip. The glans terminates with a characteristic set of curves which does not occur in any other species. The surface is spined with doubled headed or even tridentate penile spines pointing towards the body. They are less densely packed than in Otolemur crassicaudatus. [8] [9] [10]

Northern greater galagos are promiscuous in their sexual behavior. The female comes into estrus once a year in the spring. The male is drawn to a female in heat and emits a sex call. If the female is receptive, she will allow copulation with the male licking her head following intercourse. This process may be repeated. [4] The gestation period for this species is 130 days with females usually only having one offspring at any time. Twins are rare. [3] [6] Mothers carry their infants with their mouths to nests and leave them while they forage, returning to nurse their young. Infants are weaned by the 5th week and reach sexual maturity by 20 months of age. [4]

Miscellaneous

A low-coverage genomic sequence of the northern greater galago, was completed in 2006. [11] As a 'primitive' primate, the sequence is particularly useful in bridging the sequences of higher primates (macaque, chimp, human) to close non-primates such as rodents. The current 2x coverage is not sufficient to create a full genome assembly, but will provide comparative data across most of the human assembly.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galago</span> Family of primates

Galagos, also known as bush babies or nagapies, are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae. They are considered a sister group of the Lorisidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aye-aye</span> Species of primate

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandrill</span> Species of Old World monkey from Africa

The mandrill is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males have a larger body, longer canine teeth and brighter coloring. It is the largest monkey in the world. Its closest living relative is the drill, with which it shares the genus Mandrillus. Both species were traditionally thought to be baboons, but further evidence has shown that they are more closely related to white-eyelid mangabeys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater galago</span> Genus of primates

The greater galagos or thick-tailed bushbabies are three species of strepsirrhine primates. They are classified in the genus Otolemur in the family Galagidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray mouse lemur</span> Small primate from Madagascar

The gray mouse lemur, grey mouse lemur or lesser mouse lemur is a small lemur, a type of strepsirrhine primate, found only on the island of Madagascar. Weighing 58 to 67 grams, it is the largest of the mouse lemurs, a group that includes the smallest primates in the world. The species is named for its mouse-like size and coloration and is known locally as tsidy, koitsiky, titilivaha, pondiky, and vakiandry. The gray mouse lemur and all other mouse lemurs are considered cryptic species, as they are nearly indistinguishable from each other by appearance. For this reason, the gray mouse lemur was considered the only mouse lemur species for decades until more recent studies began to distinguish between the species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy marmoset</span> Genus of monkey

Pygmy marmosets are two species of small New World monkeys in the genus Cebuella. They are native to rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America. These primates are notable for being the smallest monkeys in the world, at just over 100 g (3.5 oz). They are generally found in evergreen and river-edge forests and are gum-feeding specialists, or gummivores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantled guereza</span> Species of mammal

The mantled guereza, also known simply as the guereza, the eastern black-and-white colobus, or the Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, is a black-and-white colobus, a type of Old World monkey. It is native to much of west central and east Africa, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Chad. The species consists of several subspecies that differ in appearance. It has a distinctive appearance, which is alluded to in its name; the long white fringes of hair that run along each side of its black trunk are known as a mantle. Its face is framed with white hair and it has a large white tail tuft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunda slow loris</span> Species of primate found in South East Asia

The Sunda slow loris, or greater slow loris, is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to Indonesia, West Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore. It measures 27 to 38 cm from head to tail and weighs between 599 and 685 g. Like other slow lorises, it has a wet nose (rhinarium), a round head, small ears hidden in thick fur, a flat face, large eyes and a vestigial tail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern muriqui</span> Species of New World monkey

The northern muriqui is one of two species of muriqui. They are also known as woolly spider monkey because they exhibit the woollen pelt of woolly monkeys and the long prehensile tail of spider monkeys. Muriquis are the largest extant New World monkeys. They can reach 4.3 feet or 1.3 metres long and weight up to 7 to 10 kilograms. The northern muriqui is a critically endangered species, it is estimated that there are less than 1000 mature individuals in the wild. The species is unusual among primates in that they display egalitarian tendencies in their social relationships. This species is endemic to the Atlantic Forest region of Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and Bahia. Their diets, travel patterns and reproductive cycles are seasonally determined. The size of each group can fluctuate as females will move between groups of monkeys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown greater galago</span> Species of primate

The brown greater galago, also known as the large-eared greater galago or thick-tailed galago, is a nocturnal primate, the largest in the family of galagos. As opposed to smaller galago species it would climb, walk or run rather than leap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern pig-tailed macaque</span> Species of macaque

The southern pig-tailed macaque, also known as the Sundaland pig-tailed macaque and the Sunda pig-tailed macaque, is a medium-sized macaque that lives in Sundaland, southern Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is known locally as berok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern white-cheeked gibbon</span> Species of Old World monkey

The northern white-cheeked gibbon is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon native to South East Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tana River mangabey</span> Species of Old World monkey

The Tana River mangabey is a highly endangered species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. Some authorities have included the taxa agilis and sanjei as subspecies of this species, while others award these full species status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somali bushbaby</span> Species of primate

The Somali bushbaby, or the Somali lesser galago, as it is also known, is a species of nocturnal, arboreal primate in the family Galagidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual dimorphism in non-human primates</span>

Sexual dimorphism describes the morphological, physiological, and behavioral differences between males and females of the same species. Most primates are sexually dimorphic for different biological characteristics, such as body size, canine tooth size, craniofacial structure, skeletal dimensions, pelage color and markings, and vocalization. However, such sex differences are primarily limited to the anthropoid primates; most of the strepsirrhine primates and tarsiers are monomorphic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvery greater galago</span> Species of primate

The silvery greater galago is a nocturnal primate from the galago family. It is usually found in Brachystegia woodland, from Angola to Tanzania, western Kenya and Rwanda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milne-Edwards's sifaka</span> Species of lemur

Milne-Edwards's sifaka, or Milne-Edwards's simpona, is a large arboreal, diurnal lemur endemic to the eastern coastal rainforest of Madagascar. Milne-Edwards's sifaka is characterized by a black body with a light-colored "saddle" on the lower part of its back. It is closely related to the diademed sifaka, and was until recently considered a subspecies of it. Like all sifakas, it is a primate in the family Indriidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penile spines</span> Pointed structures on the penile glans and/or shaft

Many mammalian species have developed keratinized penile spines along the glans and/or shaft, which may be involved in sexual selection. These spines have been described as being simple, single-pointed structures (macaques) or complex with two or three points per spine (strepsirrhines). Penile spine morphology may be related to mating system.

References

  1. Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 126. ISBN   0-801-88221-4. OCLC   62265494.
  2. de Jong, Y.A.; Butynski, T.M.; Perkin, A.; Svensson, M. (2019). "Otolemur garnettii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T15644A17963837. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T15644A17963837.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nash, LT; Bearder SK; Olson TR (1989). "Synopsis of Galago Species Characteristics". International Journal of Primatology. 1. 10: 57–80. doi:10.1007/bf02735704. S2CID   24103929.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Garnett's Galago (Otolemur garnettii)". The Primata.
  5. O'Mara, MT; Gordon AD; Catlett KK; Terranova CJ; Schwartz GT (2012). "Growth and the Development of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Lorises and Galagos". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 147 (1): 11–20. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21600. PMID   21989860.
  6. 1 2 "Otolemur garnettii small eared galago". Animal Diversity Web.
  7. Perkin, Andrew. "Comparative penile morphology of East African galagos of the genus Galagoides (family Galagidae): implications for taxonomy." American journal of primatology 69.1 (2007): 16-26.
  8. Anderson, MJ (1998). "Comparative Morphology and Speciation in Galagos". Folia Primatol. 69 (7): 325–331. doi:10.1159/000052721. S2CID   202649686.
  9. Dixson, AF (1989). "Sexual Selection, Genital Morphology, and Copulatory Behavior in Male Galagos". International Journal of Primatology. 1. 10: 47–55. doi:10.1007/bf02735703. S2CID   1129069.
  10. Anderson, MJ (2000). "Penile Morphology and Classification of Bush Babies (Family Galagoninae)". International Journal of Primatology. 5. 21 (5): 815–836. doi:10.1023/A:1005542609002. S2CID   9983759.
  11. "Otolemur Genome". Ensembl.