Interactions!

Plant Interactions:
Colugo licking tree. Image by Nick Garbutt
Colugos are herbivores and feed mostly on leaves, shoots, fruits, flowers, and seeds. They like to eat the flowers of fruits like the pineapple, mango, and starfruit. In exchange for snacking on trees the colugos help aid in seed dispersal and pollination. They also lick trees to acquire water, salt, and nutrients.


Figure 1: Colugo licking tree branch. Image by Nick Barbutt.






Human Interactions:

There are very few known predators of the colugos, one being humans. Colugos are sometimes hunted for their meat and fur in western Java, they are hunted mainly for tradition because of their lack of meat and fur (Boeadi and Steinmetz, 2008). To hide from predation they use cryptic coloration, check out the adaptation page for more information.
Deforestation in Malaysia. Image by Loke Seng Hon
Deforestation caused by humans destroys the habitat of the Galeopterus variegatus. (Boeadi and Steinmetz, 2008). Although they face the threat of losing their habitat their decline in population is minimal and they are one the least concerned list of extant organisms by the IUNC. Click here to learn more about their habitat.
                                                              
Figure 2. Deforested Malaysia. Image by Loke Seng Hon 


Other animal interactions:

The Galeopterus variegatus compete with the Callosciurus notatus to gather resouces in the forests (Boeadi and Steinmetz, 2008). Another known predator to the colugos are eagles that live in southeastern Asia, which are closely related to our local bald eagles.

Now let's go check out some interesting facts about the Galeopterus variegatus!

 

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