[Animals]Top 4 Facts About Lemurs

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https://www.lemurconservationnetwork.org/top-10-facts-about-lemurs/

What loves to bask in the early sunlight, has sweat glands in their wrists, and is found only in Madagascar? If you said the lemur, then you guessed right. In this blog post, we will highlight what makes lemurs so fascinating and unique, explore why they need protecting, and share what you can do to help them.

 

Ring-tailed lemur baby

Ring-tailed lemur baby. Photo: Mathias Appel.

 

1. Madagascar is the only place lemurs naturally call home.

Located 250 miles off the east coast of Africa is the island of Madagascar, the 4th largest island in the world, and the only habitat for all wild lemurs in the world.

 

Madagascar is classified as one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots! With a large proportion of its wildlife found nowhere else in the world, much of Madagascar’s wildlife is also threatened by human actions.

 

Interestingly, some lemur species—the brown lemur and mongoose lemur—were introduced by humans and now live on the Comoros islands, a volcanic group of islands located off the north west coast of Madagascar (1).

 

Learn about Lemurs

2. There are over 100 species of lemur, in all shapes and sizes.

Image showing illustration of Megaladapis edwardsi from Lemurs of Madagascar book.

Image showing illustration of the extcint Megaladapis edwardsi from Lemurs of Madagascar book.

 

With an estimated 112 species, lemurs come in all shapes and sizes. The smallest, Madame berthe’s mouse lemur, has an average body weight of 30g, and the largest, the indri, weighs about 6-9.5kg (that’s about the size of a human child!).

 

The indri is the largest of the living lemurs, however subfossil records show extinct lemurs as large as 85kg! Most notably, Megaladapis edwardsi that used to roam the island of Madagascar and was thought to be the size of a gorilla! (2).

 

The number of lemur species changes often due to new discoveries and genetic testing, leading to the scientific classification of new species!

 

3. Lemurs have a female-dominant society.

Who rules the world? Well, in lemur society the females rule! At the center of lemur society is a female leader who rises to the occasion of directing a social group. This happens quite rarely in mammals, where male dominance generally stands. Lemur females show signs of dominance in the way they mark their territories within the group. Another fact is that female lemurs snatch food away from the males, kick them out of sleeping spots, and show actual physical aggression (3, 4, 5).

 

4. Lemurs are legendary …

Books from the Ako Project by the Lemur Conservation Foundation.

Books from the Ako Project by the Lemur Conservation Foundation.

 

Lemurs play a significant role in culture to Malagasy people and are subject to many fady, or cultural taboos and traditions that originate from ancient folktales. Fady or taboos are passed on from generation to generation through stories and provide guidance on the do’s and don’ts for local people.

 

Many fadys involve lemurs. For example, the indri are fady for many Malagasy people. Old legends speak of the spirits of ancestors living on within these lemurs. Thus, people should not hunt, kill or eat indri.

 

Another lemur species at the center of many fady is the Aye-Aye. But unlike the indri, the Aye-Aye is thought to be associated with evil. It is believed that ill-fortune comes to any person who sees one. This has led to persecution of the Aye-Aye across its range in Madagascar.