West African Potto, Perodicticus potto
WEST AFRICAN POTTO
Perodicticus potto
Geographic Distribution and Habitat
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 the eastern barrier for this species, separating them from the Central African potto (P. edwardsi).
Within their range, they are found in tropical moist forests, coastal, swamp, lowland, and montane (mountainous) forests, primary forests, or those that have not been affected by human-caused disturbance, and secondary forests, those that have recovered after a period of human-caused disturbance. This species of potto can also be found in edge forests—those bordering human settlements, as well as plantations. Within their forested habitat, they spend their days in the leaves of trees that are 16–98 feet (5–30 m) tall in primary and secondary forests. They have also adapted to live at elevations extending from sea level up to 6,853 feet (2,089 m).
This species of potto was formerly considered the sole species in the genus Perodicticus, but a 2015 study split it to include three separate species: the West African potto, the Central African potto (P. edwardsi), and the East African potto (P. ibeanus).
Size, Weight, and Lifespan
On average, the West African potto ranges between 12 and 15 inches (30.5 and 39 cm) long, with the tail adding another 1.4 to four inches (3.7–10 cm). Weight ranges between 21.4-56.2 ounces (600-1,600 g). West African pottos are sexually monomorphic, meaning there are no noticeable physical differences between genders. However, since they cover such a wide geographic range, there are regional differences in their body mass, fur, and eyeshine color. Eyeshine is a phenomenon where the eyes appear to glow when hit by light, such as a flashlight or camera flash.
Their lifespan in the wild is about 10 years, while those in captivity can live up to 26 years.
Appearance
Pottos are part of an amazing group of primates known as prosimians, the most primitive, or ancestral group of primates still alive today. They maintain the most primitive features of primates, such as grooming (or toilet) claws, furry faces, toothcombs, and wet noses. Other prosimians include angwantibos, galagos, lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers.
Pottos are small tree-dwellers, and the West African potto is the smallest of the three species. They have pointed faces with large forward-facing eyes equipped with night vision for nocturnal (nighttime) foraging. Their coat ranges from shades of gray to shades of brown, and it covers the entire body and forelimbs, with the exception of their rounded ears, fingers, and toes. The body and all four limbs are slender, with a short tail in comparison to the body.
Diet
West African pottos are frugivores, or fruit-eating, and opportunistic omnivores. Their diet primarily includes gums, fruits, and insects, but they will occasionally prey on small vertebrates like bats or birds. Their diet of insects and arthropods is distinct when compared with that of other local animals. Competition for food is high, and pottos have adapted to eat the prey that other animals find unappetizing. These include ants, spiders, spiny caterpillars, poisonous millipedes, and smelly beetles. They’ll also eat eggs, fungi, insect larvae, snails, and slugs. Like many other primates, they have seasonally diverse diets. During the dry season, gums are heavily consumed; during the wet season, fruits and small prey are more abundant and therefore consumed.
The potto’s opportunistic diet is aided by several advantageous physiological features. Their stomachs are expandable and can hold up to 8% of their body weight. This enables them to eat large quantities of food quickly, which reduces the threat of being preyed upon when foraging. Pottos’ short index fingers are useful tools when grasping and capturing small prey. Their strong jaws have evolved to help them bite and chew large, tough fruits and stale chunks of plant gum.
Behavior and Lifestyle
The West African potto is an arboreal species, preferring to spend their time in the trees. They are also nocturnal, meaning they are most active at night, and spend the day sleeping in tree holes or other nooks and crannies amongst the trees. Based on available research, a precise, numerical activity budget, such as the percentage of time spent on each activity for wild West African pottos, is not readily available.
A big part of their lifestyle includes anti-predator behaviors such as nocturnal activities, a primarily solitary lifestyle, slow movements, and minimal vocalization. If they are confronted by a predator, they go into a “frozen” defensive posture that includes holding onto a branch with all limbs, arching the back, and tucking in their head below the shoulders—a defense mechanism similar to how armadillos roll into a ball. They also present a “scapular shield,” which includes elongated spines on their cervical vertebrae that are covered by skin and fur. If the predator is still undeterred, the potto will charge forward in an attempt to knock the other animal off the tree branch. Lastly, if that doesn’t work, the potto will release its limbs from the branch and fall to the ground. It’s a desperate move, but in the eyes of the potto, it’s better than being eaten!
Besides humans, predators of the West African potto include leopards, African palm civets, and a single population of chimpanzees living in Mount Assirik in Senegal.
Soft fur + Slow movement = An adorable nickname: In some English-speaking parts of Africa, the West African potto is called the “softly-softly”. This is in reference to their quiet, slow, and careful movements through the forest canopy.
“Softly-softly”? More like “curry-curry”! (Sorry!): Pottos have a distinct odor that some observers have described as smelling like curry. Me? I’m a BIG curry lover, so that automatically makes me loooove pottos!
Besides mothers with their offspring, and a male-female pair meeting up for breeding, the West African potto is a solitary creature. Females and their young live and forage in home ranges averaging 14–22 acres (6–9 ha). Males maintain larger home ranges that overlap their female mating partners’ ranges, averaging 22–98 acres (9–40 ha). A West African potto’s average nightly range of movement is 1.6 miles (2,497 m). Both males and females forcefully defend their territories against other pottos of the same gender. Population densities are estimated to be 8 to 10 pottos per 247 acres (1 square km).
When it is time to forage at night, mothers rest their young in a safe, covered spot in the canopy—a practice known as “parking.” Before leaving, the mother applies a noxious predator-repellent glandular secretion to her offspring by grooming it into their fur.
The West African potto prefers to produce as few vocalizations as possible in order to avoid predation. Vocalizations, however, have been documented, including:
• “Tsic call”: a social contact call uttered by mother and infant upon reuniting to move to the sleeping site just before dawn
• A “whistling call” produced by a female who is ready to breed
• A “wheet call” used as a distress call to indicate fear or suffering
• Threat calls used during fights against predators, or during territorial encounters between unrelated pottos of the same gender
Besides vocalizations, West African pottos communicate in several ways. Like other prosimians, they exchange information about their reproductive state and territorial boundaries with chemical cues; they leave urine trails or mark tree branches with secretions from scent glands under their tails. When encountering predators, they deter them with a toxic glandular secretion—often observed by scientists to be a distinct, curry-like odor. If it’s toxic, then why does it smell SO DELICIOUS!? (Sorry, I got carried away there!) Licking and grooming are also means of communication, especially between a breeding pair of pottos.
West African pottos are polygynous, meaning males mate with multiple females. Males maintain home ranges that overlap several breeding females. Male and female pottos often have courting rituals that they perform while both are hanging upside down on a branch. These rituals include activities such as mutual grooming with claws and teeth, licking, and scent-marking.
After a gestation (pregnancy) period of 193-205 days, females typically produce a single offspring per year, but twins aren’t out of the question. The breeding season differs throughout the many countries that pottos inhabit. For the most part, however, breeding occurs year-round.
The birth weight of a potto ranges between one and 1.8 ounces (30–52 g), and infants grow 0.11 ounces (3.19 g) per day. They are weaned from mother’s milk at some time between four and five months of age, when there is the greatest abundance of fruit. They reach their adult weight and size by the time they are 14 months old and are sexually mature at 18 months. Upon reaching sexual maturity, males leave to establish territories of their own. Females, on the other hand, are more likely to stay near their natal territory and may even inherit a portion of their mother’s home range. Thanks, Mom!
As insectivores, West African pottos serve as pest controllers through their consumption of insects and their larvae. As part of their diet also consists of fruit, they aid in the regeneration of their forest habitat by dispersing seeds through their feces during their nightly travels. Finally, as a prey species, they also play a role in feeding local predators within their habitat.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the West African potto as Near Threatened (IUCN, 2020), appearing on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The biggest threat facing the West African potto is widespread habitat destruction for human settlements and agricultural land, especially plantations. Due to their habits of sleeping in tree holes during the day and freezing in place when confronted by danger, these innocent primates often perish as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation. This deforestation practice involves cutting down existing vegetation and burning it before new seeds are able to grow, clearing the forest for human use.
The West African potto is also hunted, mainly for subsistence, but for commercial trade as well. The species has been observed in the bushmeat trade in the countries of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Nigeria; they have been found in the pet trade in Nigeria, Liberia, and Togo, and in the trade for traditional medicines and practices in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana.
The West African potto is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments whose goal is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
The West African potto is also listed on Class B of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and is found in many protected areas throughout their range, including, but not limited to, Cameroon’s Bakossi National Park, and Nigeria’s Iko Esai Community Forest. Numerous conservation actions are necessary, including the regulation of deforestation and hunting and trade practices throughout the potto’s range. Local education regarding the plight of the West African potto, monitoring of trends regarding their population, trade, and harvest by humans, as well as the establishment of a species action/recovery plan, and area-based management plans, are just some of the actions needed should this endearing and special primate species survive the plight of endangerment and extinction.
- https://www.alltheworldsprimates.org/Members/Home/MasterPrimate.aspx?tid=879
- https://animalia.bio/west-african-potto
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potto
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_potto
- https://www.gbif.org/species/2436624
- https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/91995408/92248699
- https://publication.plazi.org/GgServer/html/039C9423FFFA08753460D7FA57A0FB23
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30353655/
- https://www.zoonewengland.org/franklin-park-zoo/our-animals/mammals/primates/potto/
Written by Sienna Weinstein, Sep 2025