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Description
Voted on: 7 February
Requested by: Brigand, itszeenz and xanderkee
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Basic Information
Behavior:
Mamtau are nimble and timid creatures who are primarily active at night. Their gliding membrane makes it possible to glide short distances through the air. While gliding they roll up their trunk to prevent air resistance as much as possible. They are very social animals and usually live in colonies with up to 12 adults and their offspring. They forage together, keep each other warm during cold weather and groom each other to stay healthy. A colony can have up to 3 dominant males who share food, mates, nests and mark territory together. Also they protect each others status in the group against younger males. These confrontations usually are short and without violence. In rare cases a male trying to fight for a place in the dominant group can be rejected from the colony. Alone Mamtau have a poor survival chance so these males have to find a new colony as soon as possible. When approaching a new colony the male often offers food until the group accepts him. A colony protects a territory that can be as big as 3 acres. Confrontations between colonies can be extremely violent. Young Mamtau are being raised by the entire group, males and females included. Their long strong tail are often used to assist with climbing and young Mamtau can use them to hold on to and adult.
Habitat:
Because of the inability of young Mamtau to keep themselves warm Mamtau prefer warm climates. They can survive temperatures over 40 °C when they have enough access to water. During these hot days they use their trunks to spread the water over their coat and expose these wet areas after. On normal days they sleep inside nests which can be hidden in hollow trees, walls and other similar places.
Diet:
The facial features of the Mamtau gives it access to a wide variety of food. Although they prefer to eat insects they are omnivores and will use their trunk to suck the nectar out of flowers and trees. To get access to the juices in trees, the inside of an egg and some types of bugs they use their tusks to create holes into the barks of trees. If food is scarce they can sometimes be seen eating leafs.
Appearance and maintenance:
The size of the Mamtau can vary from 25 cm to 40 cm from the tip of the trunk to the tip of the tail. Males are usually slightly bigger than the females. Their thick soft fur can have a variety of brownish colors and a creamy to white colored belly. They have a very strong and long tail. Because of their primarily nocturnal lifestyle they have relatively large eyes and sensitive ears to spot food sources. Both males and females have tusks and a long trunk to gather food. To prevent the tusks from growing too long Mamtau often can be seen rubbing their tusks to trees, stones and even to each others tusks. Their thick and soft fur needs a lot of maintenance. Because they are very social animals they usually groom each other by using their small hands and their trunks.
Reproduction and lifespan:
The female Mamtau usually gives birth to 1 or 2 babies after a gestation period of 16 days. Mamtau are born without fur and tusks. After birth the female Mamtau puts the babies into her pouch for 70 days after which the babies will come out and hold on to their mother or other Mamtau in the colony. After 110 days they can regulate their own body temperature and will start foraging for food themselves. Their tusks are not yet fully developed at this stage and they will regularly approach adult Mamtau for food. After 130 the tusks are large enough to use them to gather food and they are almost completely independent. After 10 to 12 month Mamtau or considered mature and they can reproduce. The mating season is decided by the temperatures. Mamtau won't mate before temperatures have reached an average of 15 °C or higher that year.
