Aug
25
Indri
August 25, 2002 | 3 Comments
Indri indri: Here’s Corrine with one awesome lemur. You can’t see indri in zoos, because they refuse to eat in captivity. Don’t miss Perinet — home to more than sixty family groups of indri — if you want to see them and hear the unforgettable “Song of the Indri.” This lemur is virtually tailless, and has long, strong hind legs with which it leaps amazing distances through the jungle. Try tracking one of these; there’s no way you can keep up!
Aug
25
Gentle Bamboo Lemur
August 25, 2002 | Leave a Comment
Hapalemur griseus: The gentle bamboo lemur is the smallest of the Hapalemurs. It eats fruit and leaf petioles, as well as bamboo. Griseus look all soft and cuddly, and are especially cute when peering out from behind a stalk of giant bamboo. But you wouldn’t want to get too close; can you imagine the kind of teeth they have, that can cut right through bamboo? Also known as the grey bamboo lemur.
Conservation status: Endangered
Group size: 2-7
(This photo is from my trip to Madagascar in 2000.)
Aug
25
Greater Bamboo Lemur
August 25, 2002 | Leave a Comment
Hapalemur simus: This species, also called the Broad-nosed gentle lemur, is easy to recognize by its Yoda-like ear tufts. It had been believed to be extinct for about 50 years, until Dr. Patricia Wright rediscovered it in 1986. Wright pushed to create Ranomafana National Park to help save this species, and in fact about 1,000 individuals are believed to live in the park.
Simus live in groups of 7 to 11 individuals (sometimes as many as 25), and tend to be active around dawn and dusk. Once widespread throughout the rainforests in Madagascar, simus was “lost” to science for years, then rediscovered in living in two tiny, isolated populations in the southeastern rainforest.This species is not female dominant.
Aug
25
Golden Bamboo Lemur
August 25, 2002 | 2 Comments
Hapalemur aureus: The golden bamboo lemur wasn’t known to science until Dr. Patricia Wright and others discovered it in 1985. Golden bamboo lemurs live in extended family groups of 2 to 6 individuals: an adult male and female plus subadult juveniles and infants. Females give birth to single infants in November and December. Goldens are diurnal, and feed on new shoots of bamboo.
They’re Cyanide-Proof: Golden bamboo lemurs feed almost exclusively on giant bamboo, preferring the tender new shoots and leaves, which are not eaten by any other lemur. New bamboo shoots contain high levels of cyanide — easily enough to kill an animal this size, but somehow the golden bamboo lemur is able to live on this diet. Talk about a niche — no one is challenging this animal over dinner!
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.
Aug
25
Red-Fronted Brown Lemur
August 25, 2002 | Leave a Comment
Eulemur fulvus rufous: This is one of the prettiest lemurs I saw in Madagascar. Red-fronted browns live in multi-male/ multi-female groups of between 4 and 17 individuals. Each group needs a range of up to 100 hectares, depending on availability of food.
This photo shows the lemur sitting on a clump of figs that sprout, oddly, from the trunk of the fig tree. In this area, figs were plentiful, and served as a major source of food for the lemurs.