(Varecia variegata variegata)

Location: Island of Madagascar

Habitat: Eastern rainforests

Lemurs are thought to be the oldest living representative of the primate order.  Ancestral lemurs are thought to have made their arrival on Madagascar from the mainland of Africa some 65 million years ago.  The lemurs evolved into about 50 different species, but scientists speculate that by the 1600s when Europeans arrived on the island, about 15 of the species were extinct.  Scientists know of 34 different species of lemurs that exist today.  Many feel that there are more that 34 species and estimate that there are at least 50 different species alive today. 

Lemurs are of the suborder prosimians and in Latin this means “before apes”.  Lemurs may have been here longer than monkeys and apes, but they are more primitive than other primates.  Lemurs have a very small brain that is not well developed.  They have also retained the primitive trait of a longer canine-like snout that is equipped with a moist nose.  This nose is very important because lemurs depend of the sense of smell more than the sense of sight to gather food and information from throughout the environment.       

Ruffed lemurs are named so because of the white ruff of fur around their ears.  Black and white ruffed lemurs are the largest of the true lemurs.  They are about four feet long from head to tail and weigh about 7 to 12 pounds.  The ruffed lemur is very agile and is able to leap several meters from tree to tree onto both horizontal and vertical supports.  They are considered to be crepuscular - active at dawn and dusk.  They eat a vegetarian diet of fruits, seeds, nectar, and plant matter.  Lemurs seldom use their hands to manipulate food items, but rather pull food-bearing branches to their mouth to feed.  Ruffed lemurs have been known to eat soil in order to obtain important minerals.

The female is larger and forms the core of the subgroup.  She must also defend the territory.  Females can chose who they will mate with and also have first access to food because they are considered to be dominant.  Female dominance in primates is unique to the suborder prosimii.  Social bonds in a group are established and reinforced by grooming.  Prosimians do not use their fingers to groom - they cannot manipulate them well.  All prosimians have a toothcomb that is made up of their 6 bottom teeth.  These teeth stick out away from the jaw at a horizontal angle.  They form a “comb” that the lemurs use to groom the fur of other members of their group.

All members of a large group or community have a common home range and are often aggressive towards other large groups at the borders of these territories.  Lemurs have scent glands that they use to mark certain branches throughout their territory.  Ruffed lemurs also have an elaborate system of alarm calls that are used to alert group members that a predator is nearby.  Predators that trigger alarms include boa constrictors, eagles and hawks, and the fossa, a weasel-like animal that is endemic to the island of Madagascar.  The Duke Primate Center has identified 12 different calls that seem to vary with the location of the source of danger, whether it is in the trees, in the air, or on the ground.

All lemur species are in danger of extinction.  This is due in large part to the continued destruction of the Madagascar rainforests.  The ruffed lemur is also hunted and trapped for food by many. 

The black and white ruffed lemur is considered to be an endangered species and is listed under Appendix I of CITES.  A SSP - Species Survival Plan - has been established for the black and white ruffed lemur by the AZA - American Zoo and Aquarium Association.  The IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group has declared the black and white ruffed lemur as a “High Priority”.  The black and white ruffed lemur does breed well in captivity.  The Duke University Primate Center has been involved in many reintroduction programs of this species over the last decade. 

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REFERENCES

Bates, Michael.  “Leapin’ Lemurs, Batman!”  Utica Zoological Society  8.3  1999.

Primack, Richard B.  Essentials of Conservation Biology.  2nd  ed.  Sunderland: Sinauer Associates, 1998.

---.  “Black and White Ruffed Lemur.”  9 March 2000
<http://sjliving.com/happyhollow/website/BI_wh_lemur_frame.html>.

---.  “Black and White Ruffed Lemur.”  Honolulu Zoo.  5 May 2000
<http://www.honoluluzoo.org/ruffed_lemur.htm>.

---.  “Black and White Ruffed Lemur.”  Primate Gallery.  5 May 2000
<http://www.selu.com/bio/PrimateGallery/PrimateWeek/bw_ruffed/>.  (Reprinted from Lemurs of Madagascar pp. 210-212 - permission from Conservation International)

---.  “Black and White Ruffed Lemur.”  The Wild Ones  1999.  5 May 2000
<http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/bwlemur.html>.

---.  “Ruffed Lemurs.”  Duke University  31 July 1999.  5 May 2000.
<http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/bwruff.html>.

---. “Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.”  Henry Doorly Zoo.  Accessed January 18, 2005. 
 <http://www.omahazoo.com/>.