Night-apes, Lesser Bush Babies, Galagoes or ‘pookies’ as they are more affectionately known are small furry nocturnal primates with lovely big ears and ruby red eyes. Pookies have one of the most diverse languages in the animal kingdom. Our two little pookie brothers can each fit into an espresso cup.
These agile tree gum sucking, insect eating apes jump about branches with incredible five to six meter leaps.
Next to the studio in amongst a group of mahobohobo trees is an old fuel shed, with a tin roof. This was the site where a pair of pookies built their leafy nest and gave birth to the twins.
Within days tragedy struck. The entire nest collapsed and the babies fell fourteen feet to the floor of the shed. Their desperate chittiring brought a night watchman to their rescue and within minutes the tiny pookies were brought to the house where they were warmed up and fed with milk from a syringe.
If a baby pookie is touched by a human and returned to the nest the mother will reject it. So the Mavros family had no choice but to adopt these two little waifs.
Four weeks on Pookie and Pookino the two pookie brothers are doing exceptionally well. They are gaining in weight and strength every day. They have started to wean off milk and have a new fondness for small praying mantids, sap from acacia trees and water melon.
They have started to exhibit their jumping skills with giant baby leaps of eight inches at a time.
Forbes Mavros will update you with photos so you can check on their progress as they grow up and are finally returned to the wild where they belong.
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