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Lemurs
Every species of lemurs is endangered. There are 30-50 different species, and they are only found on Madagascar. They are primates and look like miniature monkeys.
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Lemur Fights
Fighting is of huge importance in a lemur's life. A pack of lemurs must be fairly good fighters if they want to keep their territory and not get invaded by other lemur packs. A lemur marks its territory by urinating a boundary line. Women are the leaders in lemur tribes. They will scratch and bite and can be very dangerous when somebody goes near their baby. Male lemurs will stay back until they gain enough courage to go out and fight. Men fight completely different from how the females do it though. The males will go up and release foul odor from their body instead of using physical contact. |
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Mating
During mating season the boys will fight very aggressively against each other. In fact if the mating season got any longer most packs would have died off from fighting. Like all other mammals lemurs give live birth. Once a baby is born its mother will do anything to insure its safety. For the first couple of days of the baby's life it will grasp its mother's belly because if it rode on her back a predator such as a hawk could snatch it off. After the first couple of weeks the baby will start sitting on the mother's back. |
A map of Madagascar |
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Jumping
They can jump better than they can walk because their hind legs stick up so far. They are able to clear 30 feet in one jump and can jump higher than 10 feet. They have a special flap of skin between their arm and body that helps them to glide. Lemurs usually spend their day jumping from tree to tree. |
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Their diet is not very limited although they prefer fruits, vegetables, leaves, saps, and grasses. Unlike humans they can swallow and breathe at the same time so they can eat very fast.
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