Lemurs
Uploaded by nwomak2 on Mar 05, 2002
Lemurs, meaning ghosts, are primates that are found only on the island of Madagascar. They can weigh up too eight pounds. Their tails can be up to 25 inches long. And can live up to 15 years. There are 40 different species of lemurs. They are all different in ways. Some are nocturnal, while others hunt during the day. Some live on the ground and the others live in trees. Even though lemurs are different from each other they have stuff in common too. They are all good climbers with good grasping abilities. They have good vision and fairly long nails.
When Lemurs are looking for fruit, bark, leaves, or flowers to eat they keep go out in large groups of about 30. When searching they stick their long tails high in the air meaning “this way” to the other lemurs. The males also use their tails when showing off for the females. They rub it against the wrist which makes a liquid that smells. When the tail is soaked in the liquid, the lemur flings the liquid against the ground in front of the female.
Lemurs first arrived in Madagascar around 50 million year ago. This island was a good place for them because they weren’t many large predators that hunted lemurs. With fewer predators lemurs quickly spread throughout the island. But now that the forest in on the island is being cut down 12 species are already endangered and 20 are listed as being vulnerable to extinction.
Lemurs communicate with each other with their sense of smell. They have scent glands on their feet that leave different scents on places the walk over. When other lemurs pass by, they smell those scents and can tell that another lemur has been there. Lemurs also wave their tails high in the air as another form of communication.