Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The range of Per­o­d­icti­cus potto stretches across equa­to­r­ial Africa in trop­i­cal rain­forests from Gam­bia and Sene­gal to west­ern Kenya. (Bu­tyn­ski, T. and Mem­bers of the Pri­mate Spe­cial­ist Group 2000, 2007; King­don, 1997)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

Pot­tos are found in areas of thick rain­for­est veg­e­ta­tion. They can live in a va­ri­ety of habi­tats from coastal and low­land for­est to mid-al­ti­tude mon­tane for­est and can in­habit pri­mary or sec­ondary for­est growth. They oc­cupy for­est from sea level to 2089 m el­e­va­tion. Nor­mally pot­tos are found in trees that are 5 to 30 m tall. ("Potto", 1999; King­don, 1997; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007; Ravosa, 2007)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest

• Range elevation

  0 to 2089 m

  0.00 to 6853.67 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Pot­tos are sex­u­ally monomor­phic. Pot­tos have long, slen­der bod­ies and limbs with fore­limbs and hindlimbs of nearly equal length. They have large eyes and small, round ears that lack fur. Their coat is dense and varies from shades of brown to grey. They also pos­sess fea­tures found in other liv­ing strep­sir­rhines such as a moist nose, den­tal comb, and a toi­let claw. With the ex­cep­tion of the sharp­ened toi­let claw on the re­duced sec­ond digit of the hind feet, all other nails are flat­tened. The index fin­ger is ves­ti­gial. The re­duced sec­ond dig­its on the hands and feet and the op­pos­able pollex and hal­lux cre­ate an ex­cel­lent grip on ar­bo­real sup­ports. Other adap­ta­tions for pro­longed grip in­clude highly flex­i­ble wrist and ankle joints and the pres­ence of vas­cu­lar bun­dles in the limb ves­sels that allow blood cir­cu­la­tion to con­tracted mus­cles while the an­i­mal is im­mo­bile (retia mirabilia). Pot­tos also pos­sess a “scapu­lar shield” con­sist­ing of elon­gated spines of the cer­vi­cal ver­te­brae that ex­tend above the con­tour of the an­i­mal’s body. The spines are cov­ered by thick skin and fur. Patches of vib­ris­sae are also dis­persed in this area of the fur. The “scapu­lar shield” area is be­lieved to func­tion in de­fense against preda­tors and other pot­tos, and pos­si­bly to stim­u­late gen­i­tal se­cre­tions in mates. Adult weights range from 600 to 1600 g, with smaller pot­tos oc­cu­py­ing the warmer, low el­e­va­tion habi­tats and larger pot­tos oc­cu­py­ing the cooler, high el­e­va­tion habi­tats within their range (Bergmann’s rule). Head and body mea­sure­ments range from 305 to 390 mm with a tail length of 37 to 100 mm. Through­out their range, pot­tos vary re­gion­ally in body mass, body size, pelage, and color of eye­shine. ("Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos", 1999; "Potto", 1999; Bearder, et al., 2003; Kap­peler, 1995; King­don, 1997; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007; Pim­ley, et al., 2005; Ravosa, 2007)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  600 to 1600 g

  21.15 to 56.39 oz

• Range length

  305 to 390 mm

  12.01 to 15.35 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  356 cm3.O2/g/hr

• Average basal metabolic rate

  1.942 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Males have home ranges that over­lap those of sev­eral fe­males, sug­gest­ing pot­tos are polyg­y­nous or promis­cu­ous. When male and fe­male pot­tos meet they may per­form court­ing rit­u­als that in­volve lick­ing, mu­tual groom­ing with claws and teeth and scent-mark­ing each other. These rit­u­als are usu­ally per­formed while both are hang­ing up­side down from a branch. ("Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos", 1999; "Potto", 1999)

• Mating System
• polygynous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Breed­ing sea­son varies with re­gion in pot­tos. Pot­tos from the cen­tral part of their range give birth be­tween Au­gust and Jan­u­ary, so that the time of great­est fruit abun­dance oc­curs dur­ing wean­ing. The du­ra­tion of the ovar­ian cycle in fe­males is 37 to 39 days, but the du­ra­tion of sex­ual re­cep­tiv­ity is not known. One off­spring is born each year in breed­ing fe­males after a ges­ta­tion pe­riod of 193 to 205 days. At birth, pot­tos weigh be­tween 30 and 52 g. Off­spring are gen­er­ally weaned at 120 to 180 days. Pot­tos reach adult size and weight at 8 to 14 months old, and be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture at 18 months. In­fant pot­tos will ini­tially grow at a rate of 3.19 grams per day. ("Potto", 1999; Dix­son, 1995; Estes, 1991; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Pottos breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Breeding can occur throughout the year and varies regionally. Births tend to be clustered at times when greatest fruit abundance will coincide with the time of weaning.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  193 to 205 days

• Average gestation period

  197 days

• Range weaning age

  120 to 180 days

• Range time to independence

  6 to 8 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  18 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  547 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  18 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  547 days

  AnAge

In­fants are al­tri­cial at birth, but are com­par­a­tively well-de­vel­oped when com­pared to other pri­mates be­cause they have to climb to the mother’s belly and cling to her fur with­out any ma­ter­nal han­dling. Off­spring cling to their mother’s fur for the first 3 to 8 days and are rarely car­ried. As the in­fant grows, the mother will “park” the in­fant by leav­ing it hang­ing on a hid­den tree or branch at night while she for­ages. The in­fant nurses dur­ing the day while the mother sleeps. At 3 to 4 months of age off­spring will ac­com­pany the mother dur­ing for­ag­ing by rid­ing on her back or fol­low­ing be­hind her. Off­spring learn how to feed by grab­bing food and prey items from their mother, and ex­am­in­ing it with a head-cock­ing be­hav­ior be­fore con­sump­tion. Male off­spring will sleep with their moth­ers until they dis­perse at 6 months old. Fe­males sleep with their moth­ers until they are 8 months old, and then will in­herit part of their mother’s home range. ("Potto", 1999; Bearder, et al., 2003; Estes, 1991; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• extended period of juvenile learning
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In­for­ma­tion on the lifes­pan of pot­tos in the wild is lack­ing, but cap­tive in­di­vid­u­als have been recorded to live up to 26 years of age. ("Potto", 1999; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  26 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Sex: male
  Status: captivity

  22.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  15.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  22.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Sex: male
  Status: captivity

  26.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Pot­tos are pri­mar­ily soli­tary and noc­tur­nal an­i­mals, ex­cept for fe­males with their young. ("Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos", 1999; "Potto", 1999)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary
• territorial

Home Range

Males and fe­males de­fend home ranges large enough to pro­vide ample for­ag­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. Fe­male home ranges must be large enough to sup­port the fe­male and her young, they are gen­er­ally 6 to 9 hectares in size. Males de­fend larger home ranges in order to over­lap with those of sev­eral fe­males, from 9 to 40 hectares. Both males and fe­males ag­gres­sively de­fend their ter­ri­to­ries against same sex con­specifics. Pop­u­la­tion den­si­ties have been es­ti­mated at 8 to 10 pot­tos per square kilo­me­ter. ("Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos", 1999; "Potto", 1999)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Pot­tos use chem­i­cal cues ex­ten­sively to com­mu­ni­cate. They leave urine trails and se­cre­tions from glands under the tail on branches to mark ter­ri­tory and com­mu­ni­cate in­for­ma­tion on their re­pro­duc­tive state. They use a toxic or nox­ious glan­du­lar se­cre­tion to deter preda­tors. Pot­tos have a dis­tinct odor that some ob­servers have called "curry-like." They have sev­eral vo­cal­iza­tions, the most com­mon being a fe­male con­tact call to young that sounds like "psic." Pot­tos have ex­cel­lent vi­sion in low light in order to nav­i­gate and find food at night. ("Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos", 1999; "Potto", 1999)

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Pot­tos are pri­mar­ily fru­giv­o­rous, but they also com­monly eat an­i­mal prey and plant gums. Be­cause there is sea­sonal vari­a­tion in food avail­abil­ity, gums are gen­er­ally con­sumed in dry sea­sons, while an­i­mal prey and fruits are more read­ily avail­able dur­ing wet sea­sons. Pot­tos eat fruits of the gen­era Ficus, Mu­sanga, Myr­i­anthus, Pari­nari, Pseu­dospon­dias, and Ua­paca. They gen­er­ally eat slow-mov­ing arthro­pods or in­sects that other an­i­mals find un­palat­able such as ants, foul-smelling bee­tles, cater­pil­lars with ir­ri­tant spines, poi­so­nous mil­li­pedes, and spi­ders. They also eat snails, slugs, eggs, fungi, and in­sect lar­vae. Oc­ca­sion­ally they will kill small ver­te­brate prey, such as bats or birds. Al­though pot­tos com­pete with many other species in the same niche for food (such as bush ba­bies), they have adapted to eat­ing foods that other an­i­mals leave be­hind such as un­palat­able in­sects. They also have de­vel­oped com­par­a­tively strong jaws for their size to eat larger, tougher fruits and large, stale chunks of plant gum. Pot­tos lo­cate in­sects by scent and cap­ture them with a rapid grab with their hands or mouths. Their re­duced index fin­gers help them grasp and cap­ture prey. Pot­tos have a highly ex­pand­able stom­ach, al­low­ing them to eat large quan­ti­ties of food and hold up to 8 per­cent of their body weight. This re­duces the chance of pre­da­tion by al­low­ing them to eat quickly in fruit­ing trees with sparse veg­e­ta­tion, then re­treat to trees with dense fo­liage to di­gest and rest. ("Potto", 1999; Estes, 1991; King­don, 1997; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007; Pim­ley, et al., 2005)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • frugivore
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• eggs
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks

• Plant Foods
• fruit
• sap or other plant fluids

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

The main anti-preda­tor strat­egy for pot­tos is cryp­sis. Cryp­tic be­hav­ior in pot­tos in­cludes noc­tur­nal ac­tiv­ity, small body size, cryp­tic col­oration, using lit­tle vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, main­tain­ing small group sizes, pos­sess­ing the abil­ity to re­main im­mo­bile for ex­tended pe­ri­ods of time with­out fa­tigue (using retia mirabilia), and using slow, steady, and silent lo­co­mo­tion. They usu­ally stay hid­den in dense veg­e­ta­tion so as to not be de­tected by preda­tors. If con­fronted by a preda­tor, they will ex­hibit their de­fense pos­ture which con­sists of grasp­ing a branch with all four limbs, tuck­ing the head down below their shoul­ders be­tween the fore­limbs, arch­ing the back, and pre­sent­ing the scapu­lar shield. They will then bare the teeth and re­peat­edly bite the ar­bo­real sup­port they are grasp­ing. If the preda­tor does not re­treat, the potto will then charge for­ward, try­ing to knock the preda­tor off the branch. In ex­treme dan­ger, the an­i­mal will let go of its branch and fall to the ground. Per­o­d­ic­tus potto is one of the few noc­tur­nal prosimi­ans that do not use leap­ing to es­cape from preda­tors. When parked in­fants are left alone by their moth­ers, the mother will apply a sali­vary liq­uid to her off­spring by groom­ing it with her tooth comb. This liq­uid ap­plied to the in­fant re­pels preda­tors, and it is thought that it may pos­sess some kind of toxin. This toxic or nox­ious se­cre­tion may also be used to pro­tect adults from pre­da­tion. Known preda­tors of pot­tos are African palm civets (Nan­dinia bino­tata), al­though these civets are pri­mar­ily fru­giv­o­rous. (Al­ter­man, 1995; Cromp­ton and Sell­ers, 2007; Estes, 1991; Nekaris, et al., 2007)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • African palm civets (Nandinia binotata)

Ecosys­tem Roles

As fru­gi­vores, pot­tos are in­stru­men­tal in seed dis­per­sal. They are also a source of prey for their preda­tors.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Pot­tos are hunted for their meat by hu­mans, and are oc­ca­sion­ally taken for the pet trade. Hu­mans also ben­e­fit from seed dis­per­sal by pot­tos. (Nekaris and Bearder, 2007)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects P. potto on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The main threats to potto sur­vival in the wild are pre­da­tion, de­for­esta­tion, and human hunt­ing. The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species con­sid­ers pot­tos “Lower Risk/Least Con­cern” and they are listed under CITES Ap­pen­dices II and III. How­ever, there are few stud­ies that have ef­fec­tively doc­u­mented potto pop­u­la­tion size. Pot­tos (and other noc­tur­nal prosimi­ans) are im­pacted more se­verely than other ar­bo­real pri­mates by de­for­esta­tion and human de­vel­op­ment be­cause forests are usu­ally cleared dur­ing the day while pot­tos are asleep in the trees. Due to their slow lo­co­mo­tion and their ten­dency to freeze when threat­ened, they are eas­ily burned or chopped down with the trees. (Bu­tyn­ski, T. and Mem­bers of the Pri­mate Spe­cial­ist Group 2000, 2007; Nekaris and Bearder, 2007; "UNEP-WCMC Species Data­base: CITES-Listed Species", 2008)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II Appendix III

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Kris­ten Mc­Cann (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, Pamela Ras­mussen (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

1999. Lorises, Pot­tos, and Gala­gos. Pp. 493 in R Nowak, ed. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Vol. 1, 6 Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

1999. Potto. Pp. 498-500 in R Nowak, ed. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Vol. 1, 6 Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

UNEP - WCMC. 2008. "UNEP-WCMC Species Data­base: CITES-Listed Species" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 30, 2008 at http://​www.​cites.​org/​eng/​resources/​species.​html.

Al­ter­man, L. 1995. Tox­ins and Tooth­combs: Po­ten­tial Al­lospe­cific Chem­i­cal De­fenses in Nyc­tice­bus and Per­o­d­icti­cus. Pp. 413-424 in L Al­ter­man, G Doyle, M Izard, eds. Crea­tures of the Dark: The Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. New York: Plenum Press.

Bearder, S., L. Am­brose, C. Har­court, P. Honess, A. Perkin, E. Pim­ley, S. Pullen, N. Svo­boda. 2003. Species-Typ­i­cal Pat­terns of In­fant Con­tact, Sleep­ing Site Use and So­cial Co­he­sion among Noc­tur­nal Pri­mates in Africa. Folia Pri­ma­to­log­ica, 74: 337-354.

Bu­tyn­ski, T. and Mem­bers of the Pri­mate Spe­cial­ist Group 2000, 2007. "Per­o­d­icti­cus potto" (On-line). IUCN Redlist of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed Au­gust 30, 2008 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​search/​details.​php/​16629/​summ.

Cromp­ton, R., W. Sell­ers. 2007. A Con­sid­er­a­tion of Leap­ing Lo­co­mo­tion as a Means of Preda­tor Avoid­ance in Prosimian Pri­mates. Pp. 127-145 in S Gursky, K Nekaris, eds. Pri­mate Anti-preda­tor Strate­gies. New York: Springer Sci­ence + Busi­ness Media LLC.

Dix­son, A. 1995. Sex­ual Se­lec­tion and the Evo­lu­tion of Cop­u­la­tory Be­hav­ior in Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. Pp. 93-118 in L Al­ter­man, G Doyle, M Izard, eds. Crea­tures of the Dark: The Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. New York: Plenum Press.

Estes, R. 1991. The Be­hav­ior Guide to African Mam­mals. Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Kap­peler, P. 1995. Life His­tory Vari­a­tion among Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. Pp. 75-92 in L Al­ter­man, G Doyle, M Izard, eds. Crea­tures of the Dark: The Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. New York: Plenum Press.

King­don, J. 1997. The King­don Field Guide to African Mam­mals. New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Nekaris, A., S. Bearder. 2007. The Lorisi­form Pri­mates of Asia and Main­land Africa: Di­ver­sity Shrouded in Dark­ness. Pp. 24-45 in C Camp­bell, A Fuentes, K MacK­in­non, M Panger, S Bearder, eds. Pri­mates in Per­spec­tive. New York: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.

Nekaris, K., E. Pim­ley, K. Ablard. 2007. Preda­tor De­fense by Slen­der Lorises and Pot­tos. Pp. 222-240 in S Gursky, K Nekaris, eds. Pri­mate Anti-preda­tor Strate­gies. New York: Springer Sci­ence + Busi­ness Media LLC.

Pim­ley, E., S. Bearder, A. Dix­son. 2005. So­cial Or­ga­ni­za­tion of the Milne-Ed­ward's Potto. Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 66: 317-330.

Ravosa, M. 2007. Cra­nial On­togeny, Diet, and Eco­geo­graphic Vari­a­tion in African Lorises. Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 69: 59-73.

Zim­mer­man, E. 1995. Acoustic Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. Pp. 311-330 in L Al­ter­man, G Doyle, M Izard, eds. Crea­tures of the Dark: The Noc­tur­nal Prosimi­ans. New York: Plenum Press.