Thick-tailed bushbaby (Credit: CC image via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otolemur_crassicaudatus_32734601.jpg)
Frank Cuozzo and Michelle Sauther first traveled to South Africa in 2012 to search for some of the most unusual primates on Earth—bushbabies.
These animals are nocturnal and small, often around the size of a housecat. Bushbabies have big ears, round eyes and get their names from the eerie, wailing noises they make at night.
Two species of bushbabies are native to South Africa: The thick-tailed bushbaby (Otolemur crassicaudatus) and the Moholbushbaby (Galago moholi). At the time, they had a reputation for being everywhere. They would sneak into towns to steal pet food from bowls and beg for handouts from tourists on safari.
But the more Cuozzo and Sauther looked, the more they realized that something didn’t seem right: They kept finding bushbabies killed on roads or mauled by dogs.
