Rondo galago
Galagoides rondoensis
Key identification features
A rat sized primate with large ears and large eyes and a elongated upturned nose with a pale centre line between dark eye masks. The body is a warm brown colour with yellowish underparts. The long tail is dark reddish brown coloured and becomes thicker toward its tip. They are nocturnal and more often heard then seen. The loud calls of bushbabies are a better guide for separating the various species then their appearance. The advertising call of the Rondo galago is a sustained vibrating call that rises in volume and tails of quite suddenly after 10 seconds, it sound rather insect like. HB 12 cm. Wt 50 g.
Habitat and social behaviour
It lives in the remnant forest patches on the Rondo plateau. Arboreal animal which makes short leaps from tree to tree. Nocturnal social animal that lives in small family groups but forages singly.
Similar species
The different species of dwarf galagos look very similar and the most reliable way to distinguish the different species in the field is by the loud advertising calls. The Zanzibar galago has a call with rolling trill units that after a few units becomes higher pitched and louder before reaching a mild crescendo and then trailing off. The Diani lesser galago has a incremental call. It often begins with high pitched rapidly uttered chirrups followed by units arranged in phrases in a high loud tone, which gets softer and gets an increasing number of units per phrase during the call. The Grant’s galago has an incremental call like the diani lesser galago but maintains a relatively consistent loudness, and has more units per phrase then the Diani lesser galago. The Mountain galago’s has a double unit call: It is comprised of two soft units. The first unit is made at a higher pitch than the second, and uttered in a series up to six times at a regular tempo to form a phrase. Sometimes there is a single unit at the beginning and at the end of the call.
See also
Zanzibar galago · Grant's galago · Diani lesser galago · Mountain galago