Aug
25
Red Bellied Lemur
August 25, 2002 | Leave a Comment
Eulemur rubriventer: Red bellied lemurs’ diet is about 90% fruit, supplemented with flowers, young leaves, dirt (for minerals) and mushrooms. Indiginous plants provide year-round fruit for rubriventer to feed on. These lemurs live in small family groups of 2-6 individuals, consisting of an adult monogamous pair plus their dependent offspring.
Feast or famine: When primary rainforest is replaced by (introduced) dense single-species Chinese guava forests — as in much of the Ranomafana forest — red bellied lemurs get lots of guava fruit to eat … but for only a few months each year when the guavas are fruiting. Then what? They need larger home ranges to provide more fruit, or they get very, very hungry. If food is in short supply, a rubriventer family may need to travel as much as 1 km/day. Travel is instigated and led by the dominant female.
Naps: Rubriventer normally take a big nap at midday — maybe 4 hours long. This made them popular with us trackers, because we had time for lunch and a nice rest! Vine tangles make great daytime sleeping sights, and help avoid detection by lemurs’ diurnal predators, the raptors. But guess what: fewer old-growth trees means fewer vines that are big enough for sleeping sites, which means larger territories are needed.
Stink fights: Red bellied lemurs are very territorial, and do not share space with other red bellied lemur groups, although they do tolerate other species. The pair spend time scent marking boundaries, and will fight if they encounter another rubriventer group at territory borders. Sometimes this is a “stink fight,” in which they just fiercely mark territory boundaries; other times it leads to physical aggression. Rubriventer are cathemeral, or active both day and night, which may represent a transition from a nocturnal niche to a diurnal one.
Conservation status: Endangered
Range: 10-20 hectares per family
(These photos are from my trip to Madagascar in 2000.)
