Potto Skull BIRUG 18612

3D Model

The potto (Perodicticus potto) is a small (30–40cm) species of primate closely related to lorises and lemurs that inhabits the rainforest canopies of tropical Africa. The potto is nocturnal and feeds mostly on fruit, but has strong jaws that enable it to eat tree gums that are too tough for many other animals; around 10% of its diet consists of insects.

Whilst moving it is usually very quiet, but has few natural predators as large carnivorous mammals cannot reach the forest canopy, and co-occurring birds of prey hunt during the day. If threatened, the potto can use its specially sharpened and elongated neck vertebrae to butt at an opponent.

This specimen forms part of the Lapworth’s Humphreys Collection. Digitisation was carried out using an Artec Spider 3D scanner by Rachel Kruft Welton.