New Delhi: The animal kingdom has seen many endangered animals. However, with the growing efforts to conserve animals, some are also coming back from extinction. In this article, let us learn some amazing facts about one such endangered animal: the Ring-tailed Lemur. The ring-tailed lemur belongs to the Lemuridae family, one of five lemur families, and is the only species in the Lemur genus.
Amazing facts about Ring-tailed Lemur
Ring-tailed lemurs have grey to rosy brown backs, grey limbs and dark grey heads and necks. They have white bellies, faces, dark triangular eye patches, and black noses, and their tails are ringed with 13 alternating black and white bands.
They have 13 black and white bands (Photo credit: Unsplash)
These lemurs live in open areas and forests in southwestern Madagascar. Male adults weigh about 6.6 pounds, their tails can grow up to 24 inches long, and their territories span 15 to 57 acres.
Ring-tailed lemurs live in social groups of three to 25 individuals, with multiple males and females. Females play a dominant role and have priority access to food and the freedom to choose their mating partners. The groups range over a considerable area daily in search of food, up to 6 kilometres. All group members use a common home range.
They communicate using visual and olfactory signals and are among the most vocal primates. They use distinct facial expressions and various alarm calls to alert members of their group to potential danger.
Ring-tailed lemurs in captivity are given a diet of vegetables, leaf-eater biscuits and fruits. They eat leaves, flowers, insects, fruit, and small vertebrates in their natural habitat. Female lemurs typically give birth to their first baby at three years old and then once a year after that.
Ring-tailed lemurs enjoy basking in the sun in the open, sunny areas of the forest. They sit in a “yoga position” with their bellies facing the sun and their arms and legs stretched to the sides. This helps warm up their undersides before they go out to find food.
Their territory spans 15 to 57 acres (Photo credit: Unsplash)
The Ring-tailed lemurs are facing habitat loss due to overgrazing, burning, tree-cutting, and threats from hunting and capture as a pet species. Their population has decreased, and they are now classified as Endangered. They play a crucial role in seed dispersal and as a food source in their ecosystem. A ring-tailed lemur has 13 black and white bands on its tail. Unlike most other lemurs, ringtails spend 40 per cent of their time on the ground, walking on all fours along the forest floor. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
