Brown greater galago
| Brown greater galago | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Strepsirrhini |
| Family: | Galagidae |
| Genus: | Otolemur |
| Species: | O. crassicaudatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Otolemur crassicaudatus É Geoffroy, 1812 |
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| Brown greater galago range | |
The brown greater galago, also known as the large-eared greater galago, (Otolemur crassicaudatus) is a nocturnal primate, the largest in the family of galagos.
Two subspecies of Otolemur crassicaudatus are recognised:
The IUCN considers the silvery greater galago as a third subspecies, O. c. monteiri. Other sources treat it as a separate species, though with "misgivings". The IUCN Red List assesses all three forms individually as Least Concern.
This species has a rounded head with a short, wide snout, very large ears that can be moved independently and relatively large forward binocular eyes. They possess flat thickened skin pads at the ends of their fingers and toes for grasping limbs. The fingers are long and toes are flattened with flattened nails. The dentition formula is I 2/2, C 1/1, P3 3/3, M3/3
The thick fur is highly variable in color, depending on the subspecies: O. c. crassicaudatus exhibits dorsal pelage ranging from buff to gray extending to the face, flanks and limbs. The ventral fur is cream colored, and the tail has a darker tip. The hands and feet are darkened except on the digits. O. c. kirkii exhibits fur ranging from brown to grey on the dorsal surfaces. Ventrally, the fur is cream to yellow colored. The tail is usually light brown in this subspecies and the feet and hands lack darkening pattern.
The brown greater galago has a head-and-body length of 26 to 47 cm (32 cm on average), a tail length of 29 to 55 cm, and a weight of 0.5 to 2 kg. The brown greater galago exhibits sexual size dimorphism with males being larger than the females. This is due to bimaturism, a longer period of growth in the male, on average 84.5 more days. While males and females galagos grow at the same rate, this longer growth period results in males averaging 16% more body mass than females. On average females weigh 1.2 kg (2.6 lb), and males 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).
This species is common in Southern and East Africa. The largest populations are found in Angola, Tanzania, southern Kenya and the coast of Somalia. The brown greater galago lives in tropical and subtropical forest, preferring riverine and coastal forest, but it can also be found in the woodland savannah. The subspecies display different ranges: O. c. crassidautus is only found in the Kwazulu region. O. c. kirkii is found from Mssangena north to Vila Coutinho, Mozambique and Malawi.
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