The Ring-tailed Lemur

1. The Ring-tailed Lemur By Nick K

2. Description Have you ever wondered what a Ring-tailed lemur looks like? The Ring-tailedlemur's fur is dense. The chest-coat and throat are a cream andwhite color. The ears and cheeks are white. On the face the Ring-tailed lemur has a grayish muzzle and its nose is black. Some people might think that the Ring-tailed lemur's tail is prehensile, butit is actually not. The Ring-tailed lemur's tail is only used for balance and communication. The tail has 13-15 alternating black and white stripes that always end in a black tip. The Ring-tailed lemur can grow up to 15 inches long, and just like any other lemur its tale is longer than its body, being about 25-26 inches. Now you know how to spot a Ring-tailed lemur!

3. Basic Facts There are some things you wouldn't ever believe about The Ring-tailed lemur, but there are basic facts like where it lives and what it eats that you should know about too. The Ring tailed lemur only lives in Madagascar. Which is unfortunate because the forest of Madagascar are being cut down. The lemur is an omnivore and eats a pretty wide variety of foods including flowers, herbs, bark, and sap. Even though that’s its main diet, they have also been seen eating spiders, caterpillars, cicadas, grasshoppers, birds, and chameleons! Some of its predators are the Fossa, Harner Hawk, Buzzard, and the Ground Boa. Its main enemy is the eagle. The Ring-tailed lemur spends its time in many places in one day. It especially spends its time on the ground, unlike the Ring-tailed lemur's relatives who live mainly in trees. The Ring-tailed lemur spends 33% of its time on the ground, 23% in the mid canopy,6% in the emergents, and 13% of its time in small bushes. Now that you know the basic facts you can learn more interesting facts about the Ring-tailed Lemur.

4. Life Cycle Have you ever wondered how a Ring-tailed grows up and all of the stages in its life? Firstly, the female Ring-tailed lemur gives birth to a 3oz. Baby. The baby stays in the mother’s stomach for 4-5 months. One mild reason the Ring-tailed lemur's conservation status is near threatened is because babies are born in the dry season. In the dry season food is scarce, but mothers need to feed their babies. If the mothers are starving, so are the babies. That is why some babies don’t survive birth. Fortunately Ring-tailed lemurs are the fastest reproducing primates. Then the males reach maturity age at 11-12 years old. After the male reaches maturity age, they mate with the females. Breeding season is from mid-April to May. Finally the Ring-tailed lemur dies at about 30 years old. Scientists don’t know how long they live in the wild because they are hard to track. Wouldn’t it be interesting to grow up as a Ring-tailed lemur?

5. History There is a lot of history you probably wouldn’t know about the Ring-tailed lemur. How did the Ring-tailed lemur get to Madagascar in the first place, if it’s an island? If you’re wondering they got to Madagascar by a seaweed raft. Madagascar used to be a part of Africa about 100 million years ago. But as time went on Madagascar floated away. About 80-50 million years ago Lemurs floated 230 miles to Madagascar. When Lemurs were discovered they were split into groups. the Ring-tailed lemur was paired with the Brown lemur. Probably because their skeletons are almost identical. Another reason could be because of the similar calls. Both lemur calls are very loud. They almost sound like a ghost or spirit. In fact the name lemur is a Latin word that means ghosts and spirits. It’s amazing how much history is behind the Ring-tailed Lemur.

6. Fight for Territory The Ring-tailed lemur is a very territorial animal. That is why you should never go too close to a Ring-tailed lemur troop. Most of the time the Ring-tailed lemurs’ territory ranges from 15-86 acres. Why would you need 15-86 acres for just a few days? I don’t know, but a Ring-tailed lemur only stays in those acres for three to four days before moving. Ring-tailed lemurs are especially territorial when an enemy invades their troop. Females are the ones who usually fight. Males prefer to stay behind and watch quietly. The females fight with scent glands from their tales. They just wave their tale in the direction of the enemy, and a stink fight begins. All Ring-tailed lemurs have fur to cover a scent gland, but only the male has a horny spur that covers their scent gland. I wouldn’t want to be caught in the middle of a stink fight between two lemurs!

7. Behavior Ring-tailed lemurs are very social animals that interact with each other in many ways. Here are a few ways they interact. Firstly, the Ring-tailed lives in troops of 15-20 individuals. There are rankings in each troop. So recently transferred males, old and young adult males are often lower ranked. Females are always more dominate than males. For example if a female and a male get into an argument, no matter what it’s about, the female will win it. But females aren’t born with their mothers rank, they have to earn it. Even though females are dominant , there are one to three adult males in each troop that interact more with the females than other males. As you can see Ring-tailed lemurs are very sophisticated.

8. Adaptations The Ring-tailed lemur has many unique features, or adaptations that help it survive in the wild. For example; The Ring-tailed lemur has a special layer in their eyes behind the retina that helps them see better in the night. Some people might think they have superb vision because of their big eyes. But actually their vision isn’t that great. Their eyes appear to bulge out of their sockets because Ring-tailed lemurs can’t move their eyes as much around their heads. This is unlike humans who can move their eyes a little bit more in their heads. Ring- tailed lemurs have another cool feature called a toothcomb. A toothcomb is just like it sounds, they are teeth used for combing, or grooming fur. They use canines and incisors to do it. Ring-tailed lemurs also have a toilet comb used for combing their rear ends.

9. Even More Great Features! You might not know this, but Ring-tailed lemurs are primates along with humans, chimps, gorillas, monkeys, orangutans and many more. But they aren’t as smart as higher primates because they're lower primates. For “lower primates” they are actually pretty intelligent, because with lots of teaching, Ring-tailed lemurs can solve simple math problems. One example of their intelligence in the wild is how they bite fruit with their molars so the juice runs into their mouth instead of the fur. When a Ring-tailed lemur is calling you might want to cover your ears since they are one of the noisiest primates. Ring-tailed lemurs calls range from simple to complicated. A simple call would be a purr. A complicated call would be a sequence of close mouthed clicks. Those were only a few adaptations they have. Lemurs sure are interesting animals!

10. Endangerment As you can see Ring-tailed Lemurs are wonderful and unique animals. That is why we should protect these amazing creatures. They are not endangered yet, they will be soon if we take away their home. We need to not only protect the Ring-tailed but other animals too. If every one helps a little bit to save the rainforest it will make a big difference. Try to think of ways you can help the Ring-tailed lemur.