Thick-Tailed Bushbaby
Name
Thick-tailed Bushbaby
Introduction
The Thick-Tailed Bushbaby is a nocturnal primate with child-like cries, which gave cause for the English vernacular name. Probably due to its diet and larger body size, this is the most social of all known bushbabies.
Diet
At dusk groups disperse to feed alone while foraging for insects, but they will congregate with members of other groups at well-established gum licks and in fruiting trees.
Breeding
The oestrus cycle lasts between three to five days, during which the female has access to several mating partners. Three to four young are born at the onset of the first rains. Gestation period is 132 days.
Behaviour
The Male Thick-Tailed Bushbabies regularly form sleeping groups with females and their young.
Field Notes
Thick-tailed Bushbabies have caused alarm for many visitors to the wilderness areas of Africa with their child-like screams during the night with some visitors complaining of child abuse among staff members at lodges. The Afrikaans name for bushbabies is nagapies which mean small night apes.
Where Thick-Tailed Bushbaby Are Found
The Thick-Tailed Bushbaby occupies open woodlands or savanna habitats in the northeastern parts of South Africa, but only riverine and coastal forests provide suitable habitat further southwards and westwards.
