Ring-tailed Lemurs
By: Ran Trakhtengerts
Characteristics
These lemurs spend most of their time on the ground, unlike other lemurs. But they are also proficient climbers and also spend a lot of time in trees.
They can't use their tails as a "fifth limb" like many other primates can.
They 'sunbathe' in the mornings to warm up as shown in the picture at the bottom.
Habitat
They are endemic to the island of Madagascar.
Dry woodlands are open forests with a lot of sunlight.
These lemurs prefer gallery forests which are forests with a river running through them.
Ring-tailed lemurs sleep and feed in trees but carry out much of their daily activities on the ground.
Interactions in the Community
About 50% of their diet consists of the tamarind tree, especially during the dry winter. The tamarind tree has either fruits or leaves year-round so this makes for a reliable food source.
"It has been observed eating decayed wood, earth, spider webs, insect cocoons, arthropods (spiders, caterpillars, cicadas and grasshoppers) and small vertebrates(birds and chameleons). During the dry season it becomes increasingly opportunistic."
Ring-tailed lemurs live in troops of an average of 17 members with a dominant female.
Predators of the ring-tailed lemur include the native hawks, fossa, buzzards, and boas. Introduced predators are the civet, cat, and dog.
Extinction
These lemurs are becoming extinct mostly due to habitat destruction.
We should try to save them because they are found nowhere but on Madagascar and they are considered the flagship lemur species.
Bibliography
Kuczka, Hans. Katta beim Sonnenbad , sonnenbaden, sunbathing, katta, lemur catta, ring-tailed lemur. N.d. tbkmedia, tbkmedia. zoonar. Web. 13 Oct. 2012.
"Ring-Tailed Lemur Lemur catta." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/ring-tailed-lemur/>.
"Ring-tailed lemur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_lemur#Cognitive_abilities_and_tool_use>.