Ring Tailed Lemur
Lemur catta

• Lemurs are a primitive member of the Primate order. They belong to the primate sub-order Prosimii, commonly called Prosimians, which, in addition to Lemurs, includes the Bushbabies of Africa, and the Lorises of south and south east Asia.
• Anatomically, they are more similar to the earliest fossil primates, dating from the Eocene, 55-37 million years ago, than are the monkeys and apes, but they are not 'living fossils'. They have undergone their own evolutionary history on Madagascar since the earliest ancestors arrived from Africa around 50 million years ago. There are about 60 recognized species of living lemurs today.
• The only species of lemur which spends a considerable (up to 30%) amount of their time on the ground. All other lemurs are almost strictly arboreal.
• Lemurs love to sunbathe and in the early morning will relax in the sun with their arms and legs spread wide "to catch the rays". This behaviour is important in regulating their temperature (thermoregulation), because during the cool, dry season in southern Madagascar it can be very cold at night.
• Ring Tailed Lemur society is female dominant, and all females have priority to food, water, and the best resting places over males. Females live in the same group into which they are born all their lives. It is the females who defend the group and guard the food resources from other nearby groups. Males disperse to other groups once they become sexually mature. A male might transfer to a new group a few or several times during his lifetime.
• Males sometimes engage in a ritualized type of combat in which they smear their tails with scent from wrist glands and flick tails at other male opponents. This is known as “stink fighting” and occurs during mating season and when neighboring groups encounter one another.
• When the group travels in their home range, they all keep their tails raised up in the air like flags to keep the group together.
• They live from 18 to 20 years in captivity. The oldest ring-tail of known age in the wild lived to 19 years of age, but average life-span is around 12-14 years in the wild.
• Ring Tails have binocular vision and must turn their heads forward to see ahead, because their eyes have limited movement in their sockets. This gives them that wide-eyed, staring look which sometimes startles viewers.
• In Madagascar, 80% of their habitat has been lost to slash and burn agriculture, and cutting down trees for firewood.