Common Name: Ring-Tailed Lemur

Toxonomy: Mammalia Primata Lemuridae . Lemur catta

Identification: The Ring-Tailed Lemur is most notably identified by it's striped tail. The tail, which is usually in the upwards of a foot long, is striped with alternating black and white stripes, which in turn gives this animal it's name. The weight of a full grown ring-tail is usually between 3 to 3.5kg. It’s ears are triangular with small white patches adorning the tops. As far as coloration goes the back, neck, limbs, and crown are all a shade of gray. Its underside is white, and the face is also white except for the nose and patches around the eyes, which are black.

Enviroment: This species of Lemur along with most other species, are located on the island of Madagascar. Madagascar is a large island off the southeast coast of Africa. The ring-tail is located on the southern part of Madagascar, and lives in the lush deciduous forests located there. Although, it doesn’t limit itself to one type of environment, some can be found in many other types of forests and even dry scrub.

Diet: The ring-tail is completely vegetarian. Their diet consists of many different types of plants including fruit, shrubs, leaves, herbs, flowers, tree bark, or even tree sap. They eat from up to three dozen species of vegetation, but one of their favorites is the kily tree. Spending more time on the ground than most any other species of Lemur they can often be found feeding at almost any location.

Behavior: As already stated above, this species spends most of their time on the ground. Groups of the ring-tail are led by a dominant female, and they lead their group in search of food at the beginning of every day. In fact the females are more dominant over the males, and this is what usually keeps the group together. Sizes of groups vary but it is usually more than 15 and less than 30. They can cover a lot of land, some days more than 2 to 3 miles. Each group of lemurs has a territory but in many cases these territories overlap. When they aren’t eating they can be found bathing in the sun, grooming each other, or just playing around. Grooming is a very important part of Lemur society, and they use their teeth to do the grooming. Ending the day they sleep under a big tree, which is usually preceded by a big whoop like call from all the lemurs. Communication among lemurs is different in different instances, short clicks often mean trouble, big trouble is signaled with a yelp, and an air attack is communicated with a series of moans. Lemurs great each other by a nose tap.

Reproduction: Unlike other societies mating isn’t decided by rank in the lemur packs. Instead males have deadly fights for breeding rights, which can often turn deadly. Breeding happens during the month of May, and it lasts close to two weeks. The young are born with blue eyes, which change to yellow by their adulthood. Like other communities of primates, the young are raised by the group and everyone plays an important role in teaching the baby how to be a lemur. For the first few weeks the young are carried on the mothers stomach, after that the back, and then they are usually ready to walk on their own, and by then they are almost completely independent upon their mother. If the offspring is female they are usually ready to mate at the age of three. The females carry the babies for up to 135 to 138 days, and then they give birth. Infant mortality is very high, and nearly half of the offspring are born dead at birth.

Conservation: The Ring-Tailed Lemur is on the Endangered Species list. This is cause to the rapid destruction of habitat which is much of the same as many other of the endangered species. They are widely seen in captivity and this is due to their excellent reproduction rates when captive. Cause of destruction to their habitat is because of fires, overgrazing, and deforestation. Their are various areas in southern Madagascar which are set away as wildlife preserves, but there isn’t that much time left for them. An accurate census is not available but the figures are estimated to be at about 10,000 to 100,000.

Media:
[ringtail01.gif]..Shown Above
[ringtail02.jpg]..In The Trees
[ringtail03.jpg]..Playing
[ringtail04.jpg]..Perched
[ringtail05.jpg]..Basking in the Sun
[ringtail06.jpg]..Group with Babies
[ringtail07.jpg]..Chowing Down
[ringtail08.jpg]..What's That?
[ringtail09.jpg]..What's He Doing?
[ringtail10.jpg]..Mom and Child
[ringtail11.jpg]..Scrunched Together
[ringtail12.jpg]..Base of Tree
[ringtail13.jpg]..Sitting in the Trees
[ringtail14.jpg]..Standing Upright
[ringtail15.jpg]..Is that a Collar?