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Our Tenants Are Bush Babies | Backyard Nature

Our Tenants Are Bush Babies | Backyard Nature

You think your upstairs neighbors are noisy? You haven’t met these cute, nocturnal creatures.

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(birds chirping) - Hello, I'm Robyn.

- And I'm Adrian and when we're not on location, we live here in South Africa's, Limpopo Province.

(woodpecker pecking) We're very fortunate that our home backs onto several hundred hectors of African Bushveld.

So we don't have to go very far to connect with nature.

In fact, a lot of the time nature comes to us.

(birds chirping) - There's one special wild family we'd like you to meet.

But they're a little bit shy.

So Adrian's gonna set up some remote cameras so that we can introduce them to you.

(birds chirping) - [Adrian] They are nocturnal so we'll have to wait for sunset before they'll come out.

This is the roof outside our office where they live.

I hear one coming.

(crickets chirping) Meet the bush babies.

Also, known around these parts as nagapies, which means little night monkeys.

They're insatiably curious little primates and will investigate anything new in their environment, like our cameras.

- [Robyn] Those big round eyes help them see in the dark.

But they can't move them so instead, they swivel their heads.

The family's just waking up.

Even though, they normally sleep in tree hollows, we've had generations of this family as tenants for over a decade.

These are probably, related females and their offspring.

Like most primates, their day begins with a bit of grooming.

(birds chirping) - [Adrian] They're almost ready to set off to forage.

But first, they must check out their surroundings.

They are smaller than my fist and the African night is full of dangerous predators like genets and owls.

It looks like it's safe.

Just to be sure.

(animals squawking) - [Robyn] These tiny creatures travel a mile or two every night mostly feeding on insects and tree gum.

Scientists estimate they visit up to 500 trees on their nightly rounds.

The most astonishing thing when you first see bush babies in the wild is their gobsmacking leaps.

(animals squealing) - [Adrian] They can clear gaps up to 16 feet, making them perfectly adapted for life in the woodlands around our house.

(animals squealing) And as the little night monkeys go to work the big day monkeys go home.

(feet stomping)

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