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THE BOOK OF BEASTS


DOCUMENTING THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD

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 * Home
 * Introduction
 * A Note on Classification
 * View All Animals

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23.1D – THE LEMURIDS

Nov15 by natenanimous

Life in lemur-land. (Ring-tailed lemur photo by Alex Dunkel)

We have met the tiny dwarf lemurs and the mysterious aye-aye, but they are not
the only lemurs in the forests of Madagascar — not by a long shot. Even on such
a small island, the lemurs have split into so many different species and types
that it is a wonder they all get along and have not reduced their diversity
through competition, with a smaller number of stronger lemur species coming out
on top. Instead, lemurs have each found their own niche and area on the island,
and none has dominated the others. However, when it comes to the popular
conception of a lemur, the lemurid group is what most people think of.

Lemurids are generally one to two feet long, with the tail an extra length
beyond that. They are more capable and willing to move about on the ground than
the other lemurs we’ve discussed, even though their back legs are longer than
their front legs, giving them a wobbly, hoppy sort of gait when they walk on all
fours on land.

They are, as you might expect, much more at home and agile in the trees. With
long tails for balance, grasping fingers, and strong vision, they can fly about
through the branches and will regularly leap more than ten feet from one tree to
the next.

The lemurids are more social than the other lemurs we’ve mentioned as well. They
live in groups of up to thirty individual lemurs, and in some species they form
long-lasting groups with stable hierarchies, like large families.

The most prominent member of the lemurid group is also the animal that most
people think of when they imagine a lemur — it is the ring-tailed lemur. It is
perhaps the best-known and most recognized lemur in the world, even though it
only lives in one corner of Madagascar. The reason everyone loves the
ring-tailed lemur is, of course, for its long, black-and-white striped tail,
which is two feet long and is actually longer than the entire rest of its body.

Unlike the dwarf lemurs and the aye-aye, the ring-tailed lemur does its business
during the day, not at night. It lives in large groups where the females have
social dominance (which is true for most lemurs), and these lemurs love to do
things together. They can be found huddling together for warmth or just for fun,
and they like to group up to sunbathe, turning their white underbellies to the
sky to soak up some rays.

Like a boss. (Photo by Keven Law)



Despite their relatively small brain, ring-tailed lemurs display some measures
of intelligence. They are highly vocal and social, and can understand basic
arithmetic and tool use. They don’t use tools in the wild, but they quickly pick
up the knack when trained and are able to select tools based on how well they
will do the job.

Though they are highly vocal and enjoy chattering at one another, ring-tailed
lemurs use scents for a lot of their communication. The males in particular are
covered with scent glands of various types, and they will not hesitate to stink
you up with some sort of scent from almost any part of their body. They use
these scents to mark territory, to maintain their group hierarchies, and for
mating purposes.

The most wonderful use of scent among ring-tailed lemurs is stink fighting. For
this, males will coat their tails with smelly liquid from their glands and will
then wave their stinky tails at other males, often ones who are their rivals for
mates. Boys will be boys, whatever the species. Males will also wave their
smelly tails at females as a means of attraction, but the females usually
respond by punching or biting the male, because who on earth really wants a
stinky tail in their face?

And as a random closing fact about ring-tailed lemurs, the females have four
nipples, but only two of them work. Why? Impossible to say.

Contrasted with the ring-tailed lemur is the common brown lemur, also a lemurid.
This particular lemur lives in groups, but does not have hierarchies at all. The
females are still dominant, but members can come and go from the groups as they
please, and no one is really the boss. When there are disagreements and fights,
both parties reconcile their differences afterward and are nice to one another
again with no hard feelings.

“Right, mate. I’m sure you didn’t mean it.” (Common brown lemur photo by David
Dennis)

Combined with the fact that so many different types of lemurs co-exist without
trouble on a small island, sometimes it seems as if lemurs got the whole social
thing right, and it’s humans who have somehow messed it up and gone off course.

And there are many other lemurs in the lemurid group as well, all being social,
getting along with others, and having a happy time on their island except for
the fact that many of them are endangered due to human activity. They range from
the endangered but vain red ruffed lemur (you would spend a lot of time grooming
yourself as well if you had such a luxurious coat of red hair), to the
critically endangered black-and-white ruffed lemur who roar and shriek in groups
that form a sort of synchronized chorus, to the small and funny-looking bamboo
lemurs.

The greater bamboo lemur is one of the world’s most endangered primates. Once
believed extinct, a new population was discovered in 1986, but there are
believed to be only between 60 and 160 remaining. There is every chance that
they will not survive, because they are not protected in their habitat, more of
which is destroyed all the time. This is unrelated to the fact that they are one
of the few male-dominant lemur species, but you have to admit, it looks
suspicious.





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RELATED

23.1b – The Dwarf LemursNovember 1, 2012In "Mammals"

23.1a – The LemurOctober 3, 2012In "Mammals"

23.1e – The IndriidsNovember 27, 2012In "Mammals"

This entry was posted in Mammals and tagged endangered, lemur, lemurid,
madagascar, mammal, primate, scent, social.


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← 23.1c – The Aye-Aye
23.1e – The Indriids →


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