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Description

Species Name: Ring-tailed Lemur

Species Latin Name: Lemur catta

Native To: Madagascar

Conservation Status: Endangered

Photo Taken At: Melbourne Zoo

Size (Height): 39-46cm (15.4 – 18.1 inches)

Size (Length): 45cm (17.7 inches)

Weight: 2.5-3.5kg (5.5 – 7.7 pounds)

Top Speed: 20kmh (12.4 mph)

Lifespan: 15-33 years

Population Size: 2,000 – 100,000 individuals

Population Trend: Decreasing

Diet: Omnivore

Lifestyle: Arboreal, altricial, terrestrial, zoochory, island endemic, jumping, scansorial, viviparous

Group Name: Conspiracy, troop

Mating Behaviour: Polygynandry

Reproductive Season: Mid-April to June

Pregnancy Duration: 4.0-4.5 months

Births Per Pregnancy: 1-2 months

Independent Age: 5 months

Baby Name: Infant

Female Sexual Maturity Age: 3 years

Male Sexual Maturity Age: 2.5 years old

Description:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is the most easily recognized species of Lemur due to their long ringed black and white tail. Their tail will generally have 12-13 white rings and 13-14 black rings, the tail will always be black at the tip. The tail of a Ringed-tail Lemur is longer than their bodies, these tails are used to maintain their balance as well as for communication and socialization. They have a slender frame and a narrow face with a fox-like muzzle. Their fur is so thick that it can clog electric clippers. The colouration of their fur will be cream or white around their throat and chest, the fur around their back will vary from gray to rosy-brown, the fur around their cheeks, and ears will generally be less thick than anywhere else and will be coloured white or off-white. Where there is less fur their black skin can be seen, their muzzles are dark grey and their noses are black. Their eyes are a bright orange or caramel colour with small round pupils.

Diet:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is an opportunistic omnivore that will generally feed on fruits and leaves. These animals will generally prefer eating the fruits and leaves of the Tamarind Tree (Tamarindus indica) which is known locally as Kily and will make up 50% of this animals diet in the wild especially during the dry, winter season. They will also feed on a variety of other plants, they will eat flowers, herbs, bark, as well as sap. They have been observed eating decayed wood, earth, spiders, insect cocoons, caterpillars, cicadas, grasshoppers as well as small vertebrates such as small birds and chameleons.

Behaviour:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is one of the most vocal primates in the world, as such they have a wide variety of vocalizations to maintain social cohesion within their groups. These animals are capable of purring to express contentment, they also can use a series of open mouthed clicks, closed mouthed clicks and yaps when mobbing potential predators away. Other common calls involve moans, and wails which are used at various parts of arousal in the group. Young infants will let out a 'whit' call as a means to express distress to one another.

Communication via smell plays an important role for these animals, both males as well as females will leave behind scents on horizontal and vertical surfaces in their home range using their scent glands. The use of their scent glands will vary depending on sex, age, and social status within their groups. Males will use their scent glands to mark territories and to maintain their status in the hierarchy. Males will also engage in social fighting for dominance in what is called stink fighting, during these fights the male will use their tails filled with their scent to wave at other rival males. It has been noted that these animals will also resort to using urine to mark territories, this is usually done by females during mating season and may play a role in reproductive communication between groups.

These animals are generally active during the day and they are very good at climbing trees. They are very social creatures and will form female dominated social groups consisting of around 3-20 individuals. The males and females will have their own separate hierarchies, the females will generally dominate over the males even beating the males during social fights. The females will generally be rather caring and attentive to their young, sometimes a female mother will babysit or even nurse other infants from a different female. The females in a given group will tend to stick together with the other females so that the young infant Lemurs can play. When a male Lemur reaches maturity they will leave their home group to move between troops of other Lemurs during mating season. The Ring-tailed Lemurs do not tend to be aggressive or territorial when compared to other species of Lemur however, they do display some territorial behaviour during breeding season. During breeding season it is the females that will be more territorial than the males.

The Ring-tailed Lemurs are promiscuous which means that both the males and females can have multiple mating partners. The dominant male in a given troop of Lemurs will tend to mate with more females than any other males in the same group. Females will typically select males within their own troop to mate with but will on occasion mate with males from outside of their troop. Competition can get rather fierce during mating season, males will tend to fight other males for space and resources where as the females will fight for mating rights. Mating season will last between to months of April to June, the female will be pregnant for about 4 and a half months where she will then give birth to 1 or 2 infants. At around 2 months of age the infants are able to eat solid foods, they will be fully weaned from their mother by 5 months of age. The infants will start their lives clinging to their mothers abdomen and as they grow older they will instead cling to their mothers back. The females will sexually mature at the age of 3 whilst the males will be ready to breed a little earlier at 2.5 years of age.

Threats:

Ever since the island of Madagascar was inhabited by humans around 2,000 years ago these animals have become threatened by the ever expanding human developments. Habitat is lost for these animals as forests are cleared to produce pasture, agricultural land, to extract hardwoods for fuel and lumber. Mining as well as overgrazing of land have also impacted these animals numbers. It is estimated that over 90% of the forest that originally covered the island have been cleared. Other threats for this animal in the wild is the animal being hunted for their fur or meat, in other cases these animals are targeted for the pet trade which removes them from the wild, it is estimated that in 2017 only 2,000 individuals are left in the wild. These animals have also suffered from severe droughts in the region which can result in a much higher infant mortality rate.

Conservation:

With the numbers of decreasing for these animals it is unclear if they will avoid extinction in the future. That said despite all the issues these animals face it does appear that they breed readily in captivity and as these animals are the most popular of the Lemur species they are widespread across many zoo's and conservation centers around the world. Experiments to reintroduce captive bred Ring-tailed Lemurs have shown to be successful in the event that their native numbers crash to catastrophic levels.

Whilst this species of Lemur is not as severely endangered as other species, this species of Lemur is provided a lot of care and attention as they are the most popular and well known form of Lemur.

Further Reading (general information):

Wikipedia: Ring-tailed lemur - Wikipedia

Kidadl: Did You Know? Incredible Ring-tailed Lemur Facts (kidadl.com)

Animalia: Ring-Tailed Lemur - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio

Perth Zoo: Ring-tailed Lemur | Perth Zoo

Description

Species Name: Ring-tailed Lemur

Species Latin Name: Lemur catta

Native To: Madagascar

Conservation Status: Endangered

Photo Taken At: Melbourne Zoo

Size (Height): 39-46cm (15.4 – 18.1 inches)

Size (Length): 45cm (17.7 inches)

Weight: 2.5-3.5kg (5.5 – 7.7 pounds)

Top Speed: 20kmh (12.4 mph)

Lifespan: 15-33 years

Population Size: 2,000 – 100,000 individuals

Population Trend: Decreasing

Diet: Omnivore

Lifestyle: Arboreal, altricial, terrestrial, zoochory, island endemic, jumping, scansorial, viviparous

Group Name: Conspiracy, troop

Mating Behaviour: Polygynandry

Reproductive Season: Mid-April to June

Pregnancy Duration: 4.0-4.5 months

Births Per Pregnancy: 1-2 months

Independent Age: 5 months

Baby Name: Infant

Female Sexual Maturity Age: 3 years

Male Sexual Maturity Age: 2.5 years old

Description:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is the most easily recognized species of Lemur due to their long ringed black and white tail. Their tail will generally have 12-13 white rings and 13-14 black rings, the tail will always be black at the tip. The tail of a Ringed-tail Lemur is longer than their bodies, these tails are used to maintain their balance as well as for communication and socialization. They have a slender frame and a narrow face with a fox-like muzzle. Their fur is so thick that it can clog electric clippers. The colouration of their fur will be cream or white around their throat and chest, the fur around their back will vary from gray to rosy-brown, the fur around their cheeks, and ears will generally be less thick than anywhere else and will be coloured white or off-white. Where there is less fur their black skin can be seen, their muzzles are dark grey and their noses are black. Their eyes are a bright orange or caramel colour with small round pupils.

Diet:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is an opportunistic omnivore that will generally feed on fruits and leaves. These animals will generally prefer eating the fruits and leaves of the Tamarind Tree (Tamarindus indica) which is known locally as Kily and will make up 50% of this animals diet in the wild especially during the dry, winter season. They will also feed on a variety of other plants, they will eat flowers, herbs, bark, as well as sap. They have been observed eating decayed wood, earth, spiders, insect cocoons, caterpillars, cicadas, grasshoppers as well as small vertebrates such as small birds and chameleons.

Behaviour:

The Ring-tailed Lemur is one of the most vocal primates in the world, as such they have a wide variety of vocalizations to maintain social cohesion within their groups. These animals are capable of purring to express contentment, they also can use a series of open mouthed clicks, closed mouthed clicks and yaps when mobbing potential predators away. Other common calls involve moans, and wails which are used at various parts of arousal in the group. Young infants will let out a 'whit' call as a means to express distress to one another.

Communication via smell plays an important role for these animals, both males as well as females will leave behind scents on horizontal and vertical surfaces in their home range using their scent glands. The use of their scent glands will vary depending on sex, age, and social status within their groups. Males will use their scent glands to mark territories and to maintain their status in the hierarchy. Males will also engage in social fighting for dominance in what is called stink fighting, during these fights the male will use their tails filled with their scent to wave at other rival males. It has been noted that these animals will also resort to using urine to mark territories, this is usually done by females during mating season and may play a role in reproductive communication between groups.

These animals are generally active during the day and they are very good at climbing trees. They are very social creatures and will form female dominated social groups consisting of around 3-20 individuals. The males and females will have their own separate hierarchies, the females will generally dominate over the males even beating the males during social fights. The females will generally be rather caring and attentive to their young, sometimes a female mother will babysit or even nurse other infants from a different female. The females in a given group will tend to stick together with the other females so that the young infant Lemurs can play. When a male Lemur reaches maturity they will leave their home group to move between troops of other Lemurs during mating season. The Ring-tailed Lemurs do not tend to be aggressive or territorial when compared to other species of Lemur however, they do display some territorial behaviour during breeding season. During breeding season it is the females that will be more territorial than the males.

The Ring-tailed Lemurs are promiscuous which means that both the males and females can have multiple mating partners. The dominant male in a given troop of Lemurs will tend to mate with more females than any other males in the same group. Females will typically select males within their own troop to mate with but will on occasion mate with males from outside of their troop. Competition can get rather fierce during mating season, males will tend to fight other males for space and resources where as the females will fight for mating rights. Mating season will last between to months of April to June, the female will be pregnant for about 4 and a half months where she will then give birth to 1 or 2 infants. At around 2 months of age the infants are able to eat solid foods, they will be fully weaned from their mother by 5 months of age. The infants will start their lives clinging to their mothers abdomen and as they grow older they will instead cling to their mothers back. The females will sexually mature at the age of 3 whilst the males will be ready to breed a little earlier at 2.5 years of age.

Threats:

Ever since the island of Madagascar was inhabited by humans around 2,000 years ago these animals have become threatened by the ever expanding human developments. Habitat is lost for these animals as forests are cleared to produce pasture, agricultural land, to extract hardwoods for fuel and lumber. Mining as well as overgrazing of land have also impacted these animals numbers. It is estimated that over 90% of the forest that originally covered the island have been cleared. Other threats for this animal in the wild is the animal being hunted for their fur or meat, in other cases these animals are targeted for the pet trade which removes them from the wild, it is estimated that in 2017 only 2,000 individuals are left in the wild. These animals have also suffered from severe droughts in the region which can result in a much higher infant mortality rate.

Conservation:

With the numbers of decreasing for these animals it is unclear if they will avoid extinction in the future. That said despite all the issues these animals face it does appear that they breed readily in captivity and as these animals are the most popular of the Lemur species they are widespread across many zoo's and conservation centers around the world. Experiments to reintroduce captive bred Ring-tailed Lemurs have shown to be successful in the event that their native numbers crash to catastrophic levels.

Whilst this species of Lemur is not as severely endangered as other species, this species of Lemur is provided a lot of care and attention as they are the most popular and well known form of Lemur.

Further Reading (general information):

Wikipedia: Ring-tailed lemur - Wikipedia

Kidadl: Did You Know? Incredible Ring-tailed Lemur Facts (kidadl.com)

Animalia: Ring-Tailed Lemur - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio

Perth Zoo: Ring-tailed Lemur | Perth Zoo