# Bushbaby — Facts, Threats & Conservation

*Galago senegalensis (É. Geoffroy, 1796) — family Galagidae*

> Bushbabies (family Galagidae) are small nocturnal primates of sub-Saharan Africa; the Senegal bushbaby (Galago senegalensis) weighs under 300 g, has eyes roughly the size of its brain, and can leap six metres between branches.

**IUCN status:** Least Concern — nocturnal primate with enormous eyes and powerful hind-leg leaps  ·  **WARN range:** Sub-Saharan Africa, Savanna woodland, forest edge and riverine bush

## Quick facts
| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Weight | 200–300 g (Senegal bushbaby) |
| Family | Galagidae — around 20 species |
| Eyes | Each roughly the size of the brain |
| Leap | Up to 6 m between branches |
| Activity | Strictly nocturnal |
| Diet | Insects, tree gum, fruit, small vertebrates |
| Range | Sub-Saharan Africa — savanna woodland and forest edge |

## Scientific classification
- **Kingdom:** Animalia
- **Phylum:** Chordata
- **Class:** Mammalia
- **Order:** Primates
- **Suborder:** Strepsirrhini
- **Family:** Galagidae
- **Species:** Galago senegalensis (Senegal bushbaby)

## Conservation status
- **Status:** Least Concern
- **Population:** Unknown; considered common within suitable habitat
- **Trend:** Stable for most species; decreasing for several restricted-range species
- **Assessed:** 2019
- **CITES:** Appendix II (Galago senegalensis)
- Most galago species are Least Concern, but forest loss threatens several lesser-known species with restricted ranges, including the Critically Endangered Rondo dwarf galago.

## Key facts: Bushbaby
- Bushbabies, or galagos, are small nocturnal primates of sub-Saharan Africa in the family Galagidae.
- The Senegal bushbaby weighs under 300 g but can leap six metres between branches using powerful hind legs.
- Their enormous eyes — each roughly the size of their brain — are adaptations for night vision.
- They feed on insects, tree gum, fruit and small vertebrates, and are strictly nocturnal.
- Around twenty species exist; most are Least Concern but several lesser-known species face forest loss.
- Their loud, child-like calls at night are the origin of the name 'bushbaby'.
- They occupy the same ecological niche as lorises and some lemurs — small nocturnal primate insectivores.

## Eyes built for darkness
Bushbaby eyes dominate the face — large, round and forward-facing, with a tapetum lucidum behind the retina that reflects light back through the photoreceptors, doubling sensitivity in low light. Each eye is roughly the same volume as the animal's brain, which is not a coincidence: vision is the primary sense, and the neural investment follows.

Their ears are independently mobile and large, capable of pinpointing insect prey by sound alone. Combined with hypersensitive whiskers and a keen sense of smell, bushbabies navigate and hunt in near-total darkness. They are among the most thoroughly nocturnal of all primates, emerging after sunset and retreating to tree hollows or dense vegetation before dawn.

The tapetum lucidum produces the eyeshine visible when light catches a bushbaby at night — a green or orange glow that is the same mechanism producing eyeshine in cats, dogs and other nocturnal mammals. In bushbabies, the effect is particularly striking because the eyes are so large relative to the head. The visual system processes motion and depth in conditions where a diurnal primate would be effectively blind, which is why bushbabies can leap six metres between branches in near-total darkness without hesitation.

## Leaps that cover six metres
Bushbaby hind legs are disproportionately long and muscular — roughly twice the length of the forelimbs — and adapted for vertical clinging and leaping, a locomotion style called saltation. A Senegal bushbaby can leap six metres between branches, using its tail for balance and its hands to grab on landing.

The power-to-weight ratio is extraordinary for a mammal. Elastic energy stored in tendons during crouch contributes to launch, and the landing is cushioned by flexible ankles and grasping hands with moist pads that grip bark. This is not an animal that walks between trees — it launches, and the forest it inhabits must have sufficient branch spacing and connectivity to make those launches possible.

When moving on the ground or along branches, bushbabies use a hopping gait — both hind feet together, then the forelimbs — that is distinctive and efficient for an animal of this size. Their locomotion is adapted for fine-branch niche: the outer twigs and small branches where larger primates cannot follow, and where insect prey is abundant but hard for heavier animals to reach. Loss of woodland connectivity breaks this locomotion entirely — a bushbaby cannot cross open ground between isolated tree patches.

## A family of around twenty species
Galagidae contains around twenty species across sub-Saharan Africa, from the tiny Rondo dwarf galago — one of the smallest primates — to the brown greater galago, which weighs over a kilogram. Senegal bushbaby is among the best-known, ranging across West and East African savanna woodland from Senegal to Kenya.

Most galago species are Least Concern, but several lesser-known species with restricted ranges are threatened. The Rondo dwarf galago of Tanzania is Critically Endangered, confined to a few coastal forest fragments totalling less than a hundred square kilometres. Forest loss across East Africa affects species that depend on connected woodland canopy for their leaping locomotion — a gap in the trees is not an inconvenience but a barrier that can isolate populations permanently.

Taxonomy of the family has been revised repeatedly as genetic studies reveal hidden diversity. Several species previously considered subspecies of the Senegal bushbaby are now recognised as separate species, each with a narrower range and potentially greater conservation concern than the Least Concern listing of the best-known species implies. The bushbaby family is likely more diverse, and more locally threatened, than the familiar Least Concern label for *Galago senegalensis* suggests.

## Gum, insects and the night economy
Bushbabies are dietary generalists of the night forest. Insects — grasshoppers, moths, beetles — are the primary protein source, caught by hand or pounced on from branches. Tree gum, oozing from Acacia and other species, provides carbohydrate and is accessed by scraping with specialised incisors that are shaped like a fine-toothed comb. Gum feeding can occupy much of a foraging night during dry seasons in the savanna.

Fruit and small vertebrates supplement the diet seasonally. Gum-feeding is particularly important in dry seasons when insects are scarce — bushbabies return to the same gum-producing trees repeatedly, and the ability to exploit this resource may be one reason they persist in savanna woodland where fruit availability is seasonal. A bushbaby that finds a reliable gum tree will defend access to it within its territory.

Their loud vocalisations — cries, croaks and chattering that sound startlingly like a human infant — serve territorial and social functions. Pairs or small family groups occupy overlapping home ranges, and the calls that give bushbabies their name advertise presence to rivals and mates across the dark woodland. A bushbaby calling at night is claiming space, not expressing distress — though the sound reliably startles people hearing it for the first time. In many African communities, the call is a familiar part of the soundscape; in Western popular culture, it is often misidentified as an owl or an unknown animal crying in distress.

## What WARN does
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for nocturnal species that most people hear but never see. Bushbabies are common in African woodland but poorly known outside their range — the kind of animal where free accurate information helps people understand a continent's biodiversity beyond the flagship species.

If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.

## Frequently asked questions: Bushbaby
### Why are they called bushbabies?
Because of their loud, child-like cries that carry through woodland at night. The calls serve territorial and social functions and can sound startlingly like a human infant — which is the origin of both 'bushbaby' and 'galago'.

### How far can a bushbaby leap?
Up to six metres between branches. Their hind legs are roughly twice the length of their forelimbs and are adapted for vertical clinging and leaping — they launch rather than walk between trees.

### Why do bushbabies have such big eyes?
They are strictly nocturnal, and vision is their primary sense. Each eye is roughly the size of their brain, and a tapetum lucidum behind the retina reflects light back through photoreceptors, doubling sensitivity in low light.

### Are bushbabies monkeys?
They are primates but not monkeys. Bushbabies belong to the suborder Strepsirrhini — the same branch as lemurs and lorises — rather than the monkey and ape branch (Haplorhini). They are more closely related to lorises than to any monkey.

### What do bushbabies eat?
Mainly insects, supplemented with tree gum scraped from Acacia and other species, fruit and small vertebrates. They are nocturnal foragers, catching insects by hand or pouncing from branches.

### Where do bushbabies live?
Bushbabies range across sub-Saharan Africa in savanna woodland and forest edge. The Senegal bushbaby — weighing 200–300 g — ranges from Senegal to Kenya, leaping up to six metres between branches in connected woodland canopy.

### Are bushbabies dangerous?
Bushbabies are not dangerous to people. These strictly nocturnal primates are shy tree-dwellers that feed on insects, tree gum and fruit, and their loud child-like cries at night are territorial calls rather than signs of aggression toward humans.

### How big is a bushbaby?
The Senegal bushbaby weighs 200–300 g — less than 300 g despite eyes roughly the size of its brain. Around twenty species exist in family Galagidae, from tiny dwarf galagos to the cat-sized brown greater galago weighing over a kilogram.

### How long do bushbaby / galago / lesser galagos live?
A precise wild lifespan for bushbaby / galago / lesser galagos is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Bushbabies (family Galagidae) are small nocturnal primates of sub-Saharan Africa; the Senegal bushbaby (Galago senegalensis) weighs under 300 g, has eyes roughly the size of its brain, and can leap six metres between branches. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## Sources
- [IUCN Red List — Galago senegalensis](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/8782/115064789)
- [IUCN Red List — Galagidae](https://www.iucnredlist.org/)

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Full guide: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bushbaby