Behavioural variations and activity budgets of two captive pottos (Perodicticus potto) at Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park.

Abstract

Behaviours of animals in captivity tend to differ from those in the wild. This is particularly true for nocturnal species, which are often kept indoors under reversed light cycles. Knowledge of Africa's slow-moving nocturnal primates, the pottos, in captivity is lacking and wild data of the three currently recognised species are scarce. Perodicticus edwardsi, the only species studied for more than a year in the wild, lives in social pairs, spending a third of their time together during the active period, alongside sharing sleeping sites. We investigated the activity budgets and substrate use of two individuals (a female with a tail, light brown pelage and facial markings, a male with no tail, dark pelage and facial markings) at Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park, United Kingdom. We collected data from June to August 2024 between 10:00 h and 16:00 h via 5-minute focal instantaneous sampling, totalling 240 hours. We observed 43 of 55 behaviours, suggesting that the captive environment was suitably enriching. Despite being in a relatively small enclosure, pottos spent an average of 17% of their activity in social interactions. No race walk and less bridging was observed in the study individuals as seen in other lorisids. To stimulate those behaviours, those keeping this genus in captivity need to provide interconnected bridges in the form of ropes or rubber tubes in enclosures.