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Red Fronted Lemur
Eulemur fulvus rufus
Order: Primates
SubOrder: Prosimii
Family: Lemuridae
Genus: Eulemur
Species: fulvus
Subspecies: rufus
Features:
The
red fronted lemur is about the size of a house cat. The body is
about 40 cm. long and the tail can be from 22 to 55 cm. long. The
lemur weighs about 2.7 kg. Males are gray to gray-brown while
females are reddish-brown. Both sexes have pale patches over their
eyes, and the males have a reddish crown. Rufus males have
thick cream-colored hair surrounding the head, more rufous on the
crown. The eastern males have more notable eye patches. Eastern
females tend to be more rufous to rust in coat color. A short russet
beard is found in females.
Location:
Food:
The
red fronted lemur’s main diet consists of leaves, pods, stems,
flowers, bark and sap of the kily tree. When plant matter is
scarce, red-fronted lemurs have adapted their diets, shifting to
invertebrates and fungi. In the east, lemurs like fruit better than
those from western Madagascar. Other food items include insects,
bird nests, and dirt (in the east).
Social:
Lemurs form sociable, permanent groups of 4 - 18 animals with an average of 7 –
8 at one time. Dominance hierarchies are unknown in either population and rates
of aggression are low.
In
the wild, female red-fronted lemurs give birth to one baby in the
fall. Infants cling to their mothers’ bellies for the first 3 weeks,
shifting only to nurse. At approximately 3 weeks of age, the young
lemurs will begin spending time riding, jockey style, on mom’s back,
and then will take their first tentative steps. With this hint of
independence, infants begin to taste solid food, sampling bits of
whatever the other members of their group are eating. The infant is
weaned at approximately 4 - 5 months of age.
Social bonds within the group are established and reinforced by
grooming.
Movement:
Territories:
Unlike many prosimians, red-fronted lemurs do not show marked female
dominance.
Communication:
Habits:
Prosimians groom in a rather unique way, most prosimians
(red-fronted lemurs included) have 6 lower teeth that stick straight
out from their jaw, forming a dental comb that the animals use to
groom their fur and the fur of other members of their social group.
Status:
Lifespan: 20 - 25 years in the wild. Forest destruction is the
primary threat to the survival of red-fronted lemurs. In the west,
forests are being cleared for pasture, while in the east, the
forests are burned for slash-and-burn agriculture and cut for
charcoal production. Red-fronted lemurs are found in several
protected areas in Madagascar, and may be one of the more protected
subspecies of brown lemur. Approximately 100 red-fronted lemurs can
be found at 22 zoos worldwide. There are no population figures
available, but a reasonable order of magnitude estimate would be
greater than 100,000. Given its large wild population and
occurrence
in a number of protected areas, the red-fronted brown lemur was
given a Low Risk Priority rating.
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