POTTOS

Perodicticus includes three species.

Photo credit: © Ben Evans/iNaturalist/Creative Commons

Perodicticus edwardsi

CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN

The Central African potto, also called the Milne-Edwards’s potto, is a primitive primate species, known as a prosimian, belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini and to the family Lorisidae. It is native to Central Africa, hence, its name. The wide geographic distribution for this prosimian begins in the country of Nigeria…

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Photo credit: ©dalempijevic1/iNaturalist/Creative Commons

Perodicticus ibeanus

CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN

The East African potto, also known more simply as the eastern potto, occupies an extensive range at the very center of the African continent. Though the largest portion of its range falls within the Democratic Republic of Congo, it also juts into several neighboring countries: the Central African Republic to the north, and…

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Perodicticus potto

CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED

The West African potto, also known as Bosman’s potto after Willem Bosman, who described the species in 1704, is native to a wide geographic range throughout West Africa. This extends from the country of Guinea west to Nigeria, with another geographically separate population in eastern Senegal. The Niger River serves as…

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