The dusky bushbaby (''Galago matschiei'') is a species of

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

in the family

Galagidae Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...

. It is also known as Matschie's galago, in honour of the German zoologist

Paul Matschie Paul Matschie Paul Matschie (11 August 1861, Brandenburg an der Havel – 7 March 1926, Friedenau) was a German zoologist. He studied mathematics and natural sciences at the Universities of Halle and Berlin, afterwards working as an unpaid v ...

, curator of mammals at the

Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...

in Berlin. Native to tropical Central Africa, it is found in forests in

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. The species is small with a long tail, and has an arboreal, nocturnal and omnivorous lifestyle.

Description

The dusky bushbaby is a medium-sized galago with a head-and-body length of approximately and a tail of . It weighs around . The face is distinctively marked with a broad pale streak extending from the snout to the fore-head. The large eyes have amber-coloured irises and are surrounded by brownish-black eye rings, outside which is a ridge, particularly obvious on the fore-head. The cheeks are pale grey and the long ears are either black or tipped with black. The upper parts of the body and limbs are dark brown, with a yellowish tinge on the shoulder. The sides of the neck, throat, underparts and underside of the limbs are pale grey. The tail is evenly furred throughout its length and not, or only slightly, bushy, dark grey or greyish-brown, darker towards the tip. The tail is often kept loosely coiled when the animal is at rest, and sometimes when it is in motion. The nails have slightly raised ridges on the upper surfaces and sharp, projecting points. The eye shine of this bushbaby is orange.

Distribution and habitat

The range is restricted to the

Albertine Rift The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tan ...

region of Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with some sightings further east in Uganda, though some of these may have been of

Thomas's bushbaby Thomas's bushbaby (''Galagoides thomasi'') is a species of primate in the family Galagidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zam ...

(''Galagoides thomasi''). It occurs in both primary and secondary forest in both lowland and lower montane habitats, especially in forests dominated by the Guinea plum (''Parinari excelsa'').

Ecology

Similar to other

galago Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They ar ...

s, the dusky bushbaby is nocturnal and usually solitary, and hides in a hole by day. It forages mostly in the mid and lower parts of the canopy. The diet includes beetles, moths and caterpillars as well as fruits, flowers and gums. The breeding habits of this species are poorly known, but reproduction may peak in November and December, with one to four young being raised annually. Mothers carry their infants in their mouths, and sometimes "park" them on branches near the nest hole.

Status

''G. matschiei'' is relatively common in parts of its range and is present in a number of well-protected areas. The main threat is deforestation and the population is probably declining, but probably not at a sufficiently fast rate to threaten the species, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q917099

dusky bushbaby The dusky bushbaby (''Galago matschiei'') is a species of primate in the family Galagidae. It is also known as Matschie's galago, in honour of the German zoologist Paul Matschie, curator of mammals at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Native ...

Mammals of Burundi Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mammals of Rwanda Mammals of Uganda

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot