Pedigree and native areas of primates, known subspecies of galago and their features, advice on care and maintenance at home, purchase and price. In the event that you are suddenly engaged in an active search for a pet and are struggling to find someone truly amazing and original, you should turn your attention to such an adorable living creature as the galago. Even once, looking at it, we can say with complete confidence, you can never forget it. Looking at this wonderful little animal with huge pretty eyes, one gets the impression that she has just left the page of some children's book with colorful illustrations.
Having brought such a living miracle of nature to your home, you are unlikely to ever regret it. Adhering to the elementary rules for the care and maintenance of this exotic animal, as a result, you will get a faithful friend and companion who can constantly delight you and cheer you up, as well as all members of your family, and just guests of your house. However, no matter how cute and funny he is, galago is a native of the wild and before buying such a domestic foster, it is better to scout out more about him.
Native ranges and origin of the animal galago
Someone from the vast kingdom of fauna is not possible to meet on the pages of books and encyclopedias, on TV screens and on the pages of the World Wide Web. Sometimes it happens that, looking at the next animal, you can understand that they never knew anything about it before and, believe me, there are simply a huge number of such living specimens. Probably, among all the inhabitants of our large planet, no one will be able to find such a person who would know all the animals, not just by name, but even simply "in person." And what did people do before without such familiar sources of information? It's scary to even imagine!
It so happened that a mysterious fluffy came across a person's eyes, and no one knew anything about him until now, then a thorough study of this "alien" began. So in the distant 1796 the scientist Geofroy opened to the world a new, delightful living creature, which he called a very original name - galago. After some time, this representative of the world fauna was classified into the class of mammals, the order of primates, the Galagov family and the genus of the same name Galago.
In general, according to many literary sources, there are approximately 15–20 different subspecies of these peculiar animals in nature, but as pets, at least for now, they most often contain two representatives of their genus - the Senegalese galago and the fat-tailed galago. If we talk about the native territories of these nice little eccentrics, then the first of them is quite widespread on the African continent, the length of its "personal lands" extends from Senegal to Kenya itself. There he prefers to choose wooded areas with slightly low air humidity for the place of his settlement. The fat-tailed galago also lives in Africa, it occupies territories from Angola to Tanzania. It also lives in drier and gallery forests.
Description of Galago subspecies, features of their behavior
Senegalese galago. If we talk about the characteristics of the exterior of this representative of the mammalian class, then it should be noted that these are rather small animals. The length of their miniature body is on average about 14-17 cm, while the caudal process is several centimeters longer than the body. Body weight ranges from 180 to 220 grams, males are usually slightly heavier than females.
The entire surface of the body of these animals is wrapped in short, but very thick and soft textured fur, the fur is slightly longer on the tail, which makes it seem more fluffy and beautiful. The body color of these small mammals, although not very remarkable, is still very beautiful, all the wool is evenly painted in ash-gray shades.
Probably the most noticeable and special part of the body of this primate is the area of his eyes, they are so large that, when you see a galago, at first you involuntarily look at his eyes, and only then he himself. Such huge eye organs are not just a decoration, with the help of them the animals have good night vision. In addition, they also have excellent hearing, thanks to large auricles, if these eccentrics have to climb a tree through many small branches, then in order not to injure their ears, they can fold them. Galago also inherited an excellent sense of smell from their distant ancestors.
By their nature, these animals are simply "masters of sports" in long jumps, such a small seemingly fluffy lump, can easily jump a distance of over one and a half meters. In this he is helped by his hind limbs, which are much longer than the front ones, and the tail process in this situation serves as a balancer in the galago.
Senegalese primates are active at night, when the sun illuminates the Earth, these mammals prefer to lie down in their soft, cozy nests, which they construct either in the hollows of trees or in the forks of dense branches.
The diet of these cunning people is not at all monotonous, it includes a variety of small living creatures, and juicy fruits, as well as nectar and acacia gum. Moreover, with regard to acacia resin, it is the main food of galago in dry times. It is very interesting that these animals hunt insects, they usually perceive them by ear, some time before they saw their prey. After the galago, he simply catches the food he needs with his paw and continues on his hunt until he collects a sufficient amount of food for dinner.
These primates live in strictly designated areas, while males and females with offspring live in completely different areas. They really do not tolerate galagos when unwanted guests come to them, the owners of this area are chasing such individuals at this very minute. These miniature mammals mark their personal locations with clear boundaries using their own urine, they carefully rub their palms and feet with it, and when the animal runs and jumps, this smell remains in these places for a long time. Such spare tags are also used so that neighbors can receive some information about the owner of a given territory. But during the breeding season, these conditional, fragrant boundaries weaken a little and then the animals freely visit each other.
These animals communicate with each other using a variety of sound signals, of which there are over twenty in the galago's repertoire. Most often, they emit a piercing single cry, but the most interesting sound can be heard from these animals during the mating season, in its sound it strongly resembles the cry of a small child. The breeding period for representatives of the Galagov family occurs twice a year, the duration of bearing babies is approximately 130-145 days. After this period, a small galago is born, there are often cases of the birth of twins, and occasionally triplets. The body weight of such a newborn animal is about 10-15 grams. Before the time of birth comes, the female galago carefully arranges a cozy nest in the hollow, where the cubs live for the entire time while they feed on their mother's milk, and it lasts at least three months. All this time, the animals do not leave the mother's nest, and when they begin to eat adult food, they gradually get out for a walk, returning to their house for lunchtime. The mother is exclusively engaged in raising offspring. Babies reach puberty at about one year of age, then they leave their mothers and recover into their adult and independent life.
Fat-tailed galago. These representatives are somewhat larger than their close Senegalese relatives. The length of the body of this animal is approximately 28–32 cm, while the caudal process grows about 38–42 cm. The body weight of males ranges from 1300 to 1600 grams, while females weigh a little less. These animals with fluffy tails know how to jump perfectly thanks to their long hind limbs; in length they can jump over 3 m.
Like all representatives of its genus, the fat-tailed galago is accustomed to urinating on its front and hind legs, this also helps it to hold on to tree branches more tightly. Such animals are active mainly at night, spend most of their life in trees, and for their permanent habitation they try to choose a place as high as possible from the surface of the earth. Either they just love to conquer the peaks, or they believe that the higher you climb a tree, the safer you can be.
Unlike their relatives from Senegal, these animals breed much less frequently. A galago female usually brings offspring no more often than once every 1, 5–2 years. The duration of pregnancy in females is approximately 120-130 days, at the end of this time one baby is born, sometimes there are cases that there are 2-3 cubs in the litter. During the entire period of breastfeeding, babies live next to their mother, who from time to time tries to change her place of residence in order to reliably protect her offspring. When the female has found a suitable place, she immediately drags her children there, holding them in her teeth, if the babies are already older, they can travel on the back of their parent. The animals feed on mother's milk for 2–4 months. The life expectancy of these representatives of the world fauna in open nature is approximately 15–18 years, in captivity, galago, if comfortable conditions are recreated for them, live 4–6 years longer.
Keeping galago at home, interesting facts
Before bringing such a small and rather nimble pet into the house, you need to take care of where he will live. In order for your new friend to feel comfortable enough and cozy under the same roof with you, you need to equip a spacious cage for him. The dimensions of such a personal Galagovsky house should allow its owner to jump, run, and just frolic.
It is necessary to place various climbing structures in his personal dwelling, because in nature this big-eyed animal lives mainly in trees. As such accessories, various shelves are perfect, which should be placed at different levels of the cage, in addition, do not forget about tree branches, they will also travel along them with pleasure. You can give your friend a few more toys, maybe the galago will not constantly play with them, but they will certainly arouse a certain interest in him. Do not forget that the animal needs somewhere to sleep and just rest, for this it is good to equip a soft nest for it. You can also offer him to make a bed for himself with his own paws, for this you should put some branches, fallen leaves or just rags in the animal's cage, so your pupil will stand the bed of his dreams for himself and in the most suitable place for this. It will be good to build a reliable shelter, for example, under the guise of a house, the animal will definitely like this, because he also wants to retire somewhere so that no one looks at him.
The flooring in a galago cage should be lined with something soft, large sawdust, hay or straw work well. This measure is completely optional, it will just be easier for you to clean up after your, not quite neat, pupil. Homemade galago gets rid of such a natural habit as washing with one's own urine with great difficulty, but no one can radically eradicate this feature. Therefore, your task is to regularly clean your smaller friend's apartment, so you prevent the appearance of unpleasant odors in your house. Some individuals learn to fulfill their physiological needs in one corner, but getting their paws there is sacred.
It should not be forgotten that your new lodger from the wild also needs his personal breath of freedom, if you gave him even the largest and most equipped cage, you should not keep him there all the time. After all, the cell always remains it, and walking is not only raising the mood of your galago, but also maintaining its physical and psychological health in general. Some people do not buy a separate dwelling for this animal at all, it feels great in an apartment, but with such free living, there is a great risk of losing your pet, especially when he is left at home alone.
Due to its natural curiosity and rather miniature size, this fluffy animal can climb into the most unexpected and impassable places of your house, for example, it can easily get stuck between the ribs of the battery, and from there it is almost impossible to pull it out, it is only in the cartoon that you can wait a week, when he lost weight, but in reality, the galago may die or get serious injuries. It is possible that with his paws, just soaked in feces, he can walk among any electrical appliances, which is also not entirely safe.
Also, one should not forget about open windows or suddenly opening doors through which this cunning man, well, simply will not miss the opportunity to slip away in search of adventure. Therefore, it is best to simply release galago regularly for walks around the house, under your personal close supervision. And at a time when everyone living in the apartment is absent, the animal is better, and it will be safer to spend time in its personal home.
It is completely unproblematic to compose a diet for such an exotic friend, since this eccentric eats almost everything, of course, he should not offer burgers, but he will never refuse some delicious porridge. With great pleasure he eats fruits, nuts, vegetables and even lean meats, such as chicken or beef. It is recommended to add to the daily menu and such delicacies as insects, zofobas are perfect. From time to time, you can feed your friend with special vitamin and mineral complexes.
Don't worry that galago is mostly a nocturnal dweller. Firstly, it is not at all difficult to teach him to stay awake in the daytime, simply by changing his diet, and secondly, even if he does not sleep at night, he behaves very quietly and calmly, because by nature, he is very well-mannered and delicate, well, except that it can smack a little. But you can forgive him for this insignificant tactlessness?
Purchase and price of galago
Buying an animal such as a galago on the territory of Russia is not at all a problem, the main thing is to make sure that you are buying an animal bred in captivity, and not brought from the wild by poachers. The average cost of such a representative of the world fauna as the Senegalese galago ranges from 75,000 to 110,000 rubles. And if we talk about its fat-tailed relative, then the price for this animal starts from 120,000 rubles.
What a galago looks like, see below:
