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potto

potto

1 9.9
A small, slow animal that lives in trees and is active at night in Africa and tropical America
  • noun
  • /ˈpɑːtoʊ/
translation icon : potto
  • With its large eyes, the potto is perfectly adapted for its nocturnal lifestyle.

Examples

  • The potto uses its strong gripping hands to navigate along the branches at night.

  • The Potto, a masquerade which in its nineteenth-century form was enacted by a naked female initiate covered only with clay or ash, impersonated the small nocturnal primate known as the potto, which carries its young on its back.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The mask stopped and walked slowly again like the animal potto or like an elderly person.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The thumbs of the potto are set at an angle of 180 degrees to the other digits.

  • Yet the potto possesses social and reproductive attributes that those who want to succeed in life should emulate.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Further, Weil likens the nocturnal habits of the potto to the time and place women are thought to manifest their covert power.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The masker held a staff like the one used by the Baby Leopard, which may be related to the potto's pattern of moving slowly through trees along both vertical and horizontal branches (Charles-Dominique 1977:76).

    Academic text (1998)
  • The potto is known for its slow movement and lives high up in the trees of the rainforest.

Synonyms

Perodicticus potto
vspotto
  • Specialized
9.9

A slow-moving animal from tropical Africa that lives in trees and is active at night with a small index finger

is broader covering small slow tree mammals in Africa and tropical America
Perodicticus
vspotto
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of small African tree mammals like the potto

is more specific describing a small slow nocturnal tree mammal rather than a whole group

Compounds

A small yellowish animal from West African forests that is active at night and eats insects and fruit

Perodicticus potto
  • Specialized
9.9

A slow-moving animal from tropical Africa that lives in trees and is active at night with a small index finger

Surface Forms

potto singular
pottos plural

Etymology

Potto comes from a West African local name for this small night animal, so its name arrived in English from the place where people first knew it. That's why potto refers to a quiet, slow-moving, tree-living mammal from African forests.