Madagascar ... it's the only place on earth where these wonderful animals truly run free
In the late 1500s, adventurers on the large forest island of Madagascar, some 200 miles off southeastern Africa, were regularly woken at night from their sleep by haunting howls and screeches. Looking into the darkness they saw bright shining eyes peering back at them.
It is written that the explorers believed these to be spirits of dead companions. Daylight revealed that the howling ghosts were in fact large-eyed, monkey-like creatures. The explorers named these exotic animals "lemurs", a Roman word meaning "spirits of the dead." However, the natives call the Ringtailed Lemur "Maki" and consider them to be the spirits of the dead returned to the world to worship the sun. This can truly be understood when one sees a group of lemurs exposing their white underbellies to the sun, looking relaxed and at peace with the world.
Some Lemur Facts There are 50 species of lemurs; ten of those types are critically endangered, seven are endangered, and nineteen are considered vulnerable Lemurs are prosimians, or primitive primates
When lemurs are born, they are carried in their mothers' mouths until they are old enough to hang on to her fur by themselves Most lemurs live for about eighteen years The Ring-tails tail is clearly very distinctive, each one having 26 stripes - 13 white and 13 black When ring-tailed troops travel across their territory they keep their tails raised in the air - this helps keep troop members together - some troops can have up to 30 members Ring-tails have scent glands on their wrists and chests that they use to mark their foraging routes Males even have a horny spur on each wrist gland that they use to pierce tree branches before scent marking them Ring-tails enter into "stink fights" over territories. They rub scent from their wrists onto their tails, and then waft their tails high in the air at a rival troop. The battle is won by whoever can produce the most offensive odour - now that is skill! The smelliest troop is victorious and the others must beat a hasty retreat. Physical clashes rarely take place Male ring-tails are as large as the females, however, it's the females who lead the troop in defending their territory from rival lemurs Lemurs have as much as 50 acres of territory They are diurnal (active during the day) Most lemurs spend their time in trees but not the Ring-tail, it spends up to 40% of its day on the ground Ring-tails are one of the most vocal primates. They have several different alarm calls to alert members of their group to potential danger Loss of habitat is the main threat to lemurs today 
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Lou Carton-Kelly
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