Precious Animals of all Kinds

The Ringed Circus

Deep in the forests of Madagascar lives the frisky primates... the lemurs. Lemurs were specially evolved to live on Madagascar, being the only type of primate species able to survive there. Ranging from small to large, all lemurs are in need of help. For their habitats are quickly disappearing in front of human eyes...
The ring-tailed lemur, or Lemur catta, is the size of normal house cats. They grow to be 41 inches long on average including their head, body, and long tail. These critters weigh 6.5 to 7.75 pounds and yet they are agile and graceful in the treetops. These cute creatures have limbs that are either gray or even a rosy brown. The heads and necks are dark gray, the undersides are white, and their faces are white with dark triangular eye patches and black noses. These lemurs get their common name from their 13 alternating black and white strips on their tails. All of these lemurs have a scent gland on their wrists and chests that they use to mark their foraging routes. Males have a horny spur on each wrist to use to grip the tree before scenting it.
These lemurs are found in south and southwestern Madagascar, while similar species live near the mountains of Andringltra on the southeastern plateau. A lemur's territory is usually 15 to 57 acres. Ring-tailed Lemurs eat fruit, leaves, flowers, herbs, and other plant parts, but sometimes enjoy small insects and small vertebrates. The ring-tailed Lemur lives up to 20 to 25 years from birth to death.
Ring-tailed Lemurs form territorial groups from 3 to 25 individuals of different ages. The females are in charge of the group and usually sticks with one group for the rest of their lives. However, males will leave to join another group after reaching sexual maturity. Ring-tailed Lemurs change their home grounds in search of food when their areas have nothing left to eat. But as a result of this, many groups encounter one another, causing everyone to be aggressive towards each other. These primates have a special way of bonding with each other, which is grooming. These lemurs have 6 lower teeth, which stick out to form a comb, which is used then for grooming. As a group, all the members must stick together. When the lemurs move to different grounds, they use their tails as flags to direct one another to the right destination. Each lemur has a high piercing scream, which is used to alert one another of potential danger.
As the head of the troop, females get to choose whom to mate with. In the wild, ring-tailed Lemurs reach sexual maturity at 3 years of age. Mating is extremely seasonal, beginning in mid-April in the wild. After a gestation period of 134 to 138 days, females give birth to one baby, although twins are fairly common when food is plentiful. Females give birth after they reach sexually maturity, and produce offspring annually. Infants are usually born in August and September. Initially, infants cling to their mother's belly, but can ride on her back after 2 weeks. Infants sample solid food after their first week in this world, and take steps away from his or her mother in 3 to 4 weeks. Over the next 5 months, the little rascals will stay way from their mother only to return to suckle and sleep. The little lemurs will do this until they are finally weaned at 5 to 6 months of age.

The homes of these little acrobats of the forest are rapidly disappearing. The homes are turning into farmland, or being overgrazed by livestock, or harvested for charcoal production. In some areas of Madagascar, these animals are hunted for food. Long ago they were victims of the exotic pet trade until a law was established. And the sad thing is, Madagascar only protects some handfuls of lemurs under law. But there is no stop to this habitat destruction. If we try really hard to stop such destruction, the ring-tailed Lemurs will flourish and nothing has to disappear from this beautiful world.