🐾 Lemur

Lemur

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Lemur catta
• Family & relatives: Family Lemuridae; part of the lemurs, primates found only in Madagascar.
• How to spot it: Gray body, fox-like face, and a long tail with about 13 black and 13 white rings.

Its body & abilities

• Size: Body about 40 cm plus a tail even longer than the body.
• Weight: Around 2.2 kg.
• Body & adaptations: Grasping hands and feet, a long balancing tail, and scent glands on the wrists for marking.
• Top speed: Agile and quick through trees and on the ground, running up to about 20 km/h.
• Strength: Can leap several times its body length between branches.
• Senses: Sharp eyesight and an excellent sense of smell used for scent-marking and communication.
• Growing up: Babies cling to the mother's belly, later ride on her back, and are weaned within months.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Dry forests, spiny scrub, and gallery forests.
• Where in the world: Southern and southwestern Madagascar.
• Territory: Troops defend a home range and mark its edges with scent.

What it eats

• Diet: Omnivore leaning toward fruit, drinking water and getting moisture from food.
• Favorite foods: Fruit, leaves, flowers, and sometimes insects, favoring the tamarind tree.
• How it hunts: Forages by day in the trees and on the ground, moving as a troop.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Walks and climbs on all fours and spends more time on the ground than most lemurs.
• When it is active: Active during the day (diurnal), often sunbathing in the morning.
• Family life: Lives in groups called troops, led by a dominant female.
• How it talks: Uses many calls, facial expressions, and scent, including 'stink fights' where males waft smelly tails.
• Babies: After about 4.5 months of pregnancy, a female usually has one infant, sometimes twins.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: A seed disperser of dry forests; preyed on by the fossa, birds of prey, and snakes.
• Conservation: Endangered (IUCN), threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and the pet trade.
• Dangers: Habitat destruction, predation, and capture for the pet trade are major causes of death.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Around 16 years in the wild and up to about 27 in captivity.
• In our culture: The best-known lemur worldwide and a popular star of zoos and films.
• Where to see it: Reserves in southern Madagascar and accredited zoos worldwide.
• Fun fact: Females run the troop, and males settle disputes with smelly 'stink fights' using their tails.