Distribution, population density and behavior of dwarf galagos (Paragalago sp.) in Taita Hills, Kenya

This dataset was originally presented in AABA conference in Denver March 2022 https://bioanth.org/.

Article is published in International Journal of Primatology.

We studied habitat preferences and behavior of dwarf galagos (Paragalago sp.), recently rediscovered from the Taita Hills, Kenya. Small populations of dwarf galagos survive in the two largest remnants of moist montane forest. Inspection of several smaller forest fragments failed to provide evidence of additional survivors. Acoustic data on the two remaining populations were obtained with AudioMoths and analyzed in relation to forest structure data obtained by airborne lidar and by ground-level observations. A Zero-inflated negative binomial GLMM was implemented with calls as the response variable and indicator of relative population density. Our results demonstrate that dwarf galagos in the Taita Hills are sensitive to human disturbance and tend to avoid forest edges. In Ngangao Forest (120 ha), a small, nearly extinct population of about 10 individuals inhabits the most pristine part of the forest. The calls of dwarf galagos in the Taita Hills resemble calls of Kenya coast dwarf galagos (Paragalago cocos). However, some differences do exist between the Taita animals and those recently recorded by us at the Kenyan coast, and even between the two remaining populations in the Taita Hills. In addition to other data, we present the first ever photographs of the dwarf galagos from the Mbololo Forest and compare them to those from Ngangao Forest and the Kenya coast from Diani and Shimba Hills. We conclude that DNA studies are urgently needed to resolve the taxonomical status of both surviving populations of dwarf galagos in the Taita Hills.