Ring-tailed lemurs are named for the 13 alternating black and white bands that adorn their tails. Unlike most other lemurs, ringtails spend 40 percent of their time on the ground, moving quadrupedally along the forest floor. Ring-tailed lemur backs are gray to rosy brown with gray limbs and dark gray heads and necks.
They have white bellies. Their faces are white with dark triangular eye patches and a black nose. True to their name, ring-tailed lemurs' tails are ringed with 13 alternating black and white bands. Unlike most other lemurs, ringtails spend 40 percent of their time on the ground. They move quadrupedally along the forest floor. The average body mass for adult males is 6 pounds 3 kilograms. Females are usually smaller. Their tails can be up to 2 feet long 61 centimeters.
Ring-tailed lemurs live in southwestern Madagascar, in arid, open areas and forests in territories that range from 15 to 57 acres 0. As with all lemurs, olfactory communication is important for ringtails. Ring-tailed lemurs have scent glands on their wrists and chests that they use to mark their foraging routes. Males even have a horny spur on each wrist gland that they use to pierce tree branches before scent marking them. Secretions from the wrist glands can also be rubbed on the tail and flicked at an opponent.
Ring-tailed lemurs communicate visually in a number of ways as well. When ring-tailed troops travel throughout their home range, they keep their tails raised in the air, like flags, to keep group members together.
They also communicate using facial expressions:. Ring-tailed lemurs are one of the most vocal primates.
They have several different alarm calls to alert members of their group to potential danger:. At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, they are fed a mixture of fruits, vegetables and leaf-eater biscuits multiple times a day.
Ring-tailed lemurs live found in social groups ranging in size from three to 25 individuals. The groups include multiple males and females. Females spend their whole lives in their birth group. Generally males change groups when they reach sexual maturity at age three.
Ring-tailed groups range over a considerable area each day in search of food, up to 3. All group members use this common home range, and groups are often aggressive towards other groups at the borders of these areas. Females are dominant within groups, meaning females have preferential access to food and choice of whom to mate with. This is unusual in the primate world. Males do have a dominance hierarchy, though even low-ranking males are able to mate.
The hierarchy among ring-tailed lemur females is not linear, and daughters do not always assume the rank of their mothers. One explanation for this pattern is that ring-tailed lemur mothers do not support their daughters in social interactions, so the daughters do not inherit rank but fight to achieve their own rank.
Females have been seen to have closer social bonds with other female relatives in a group than they do with unrelated females. In the current phase of the project, we are working with about a dozen species here at the Lemur Center. Eventually, we plan to study wild lemurs in Madagascar. But for now, the real fun is in being with the lemurs at night. We make periodic visits to survey the lemurs and learn what they are up to after the staff leaves.
Do they prefer to sleep near group-mates or alone? Do they prefer to sleep on beams, platforms, or in baskets? These seemingly small factors are critical as we make decisions about the design of the project, especially because the answers vary widely between species. After the sun goes down, we arrive with just red lights and whispers, roaming the halls and peeking in on the lemurs.
The sifakas, ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs — traditionally thought to be diurnal — raise their heads as we pass by but otherwise tend to ignore us. In contrast, the cathemeral species of the Eulemur genus perk up immediately and either approach us or socialize amongst themselves.
Babies of all species are particularly active once disturbed. Ring tailed lemurs mostly eat fruit and leaves. They really like the leaves of the tamarind tree.
The food they eat is different to other lemurs because of the amount of time they spend on the ground. They will eat bark, earth, small insects and spider webs. What is a group of ring tailed lemurs called? What noise do ring tailed lemurs make?
Ring tailed lemurs make all kinds of noises from wails to howls, from purrs to chirps. How many types of lemurs are there? Nearly ! But all of them come from Madagascar. The smallest is the pygmy mouse lemur which weighs just one ounce. Are ring-tailed lemurs monkeys?
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