Ring-Tailed Lemur
They are the most recognised lemur due to their long, black and white ringed tail. The ring-tailed lemur is highly social, living in groups of up to 30 individuals. It is also female dominant, a trait common among lemurs. To keep warm and reaffirm social bonds, groups will huddle together. The ring-tailed lemur will also sunbathe, sitting upright facing its underside, with its thinner white fur towards the sun. Like other lemurs, this species relies strongly on its sense of smell and marks its territory with scent glands.
Habitat
Endemic to southern and southwestern Madagascar, the ring-tailed lemur ranges further into highland areas than other lemurs. It inhabits deciduous forests, dry scrub, montane humid forests, and gallery forsts (forests along riverbanks). It strongly favors gallery forests, but such forests have now been cleared from much of Madagascar in order to create pasture for livestock. Depending on location, temperatures within its geographic range can vary from −12°C at Andringintra Massif to 48 °C in the spiny forests of Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve.
Diet
The direct composition of the Lemur’s diet varies based on seasons and habitats. It supplements its diet by the intake of sodium through consuming soil. It feeds on different types of food, including sap, fruits, bark, leaves and flowers. It also prey on big insects along with chameleons.
Breeding
Ring-Tailed Lemurs gain sexual maturity when they are about 2.5 to 3 years old. The males contend for entrance to females through a stink fight, smearing their tails from the odor that emanates from a secreted substance from their wrists and drifting this odor towards their opponents. Mating amongst them takes place during mid-April when the male lemurs get complete access to the females after fighting off their opponents. In September, their offspring are born after 130 to 144 days of gestation period.
The female red-tailed lemurs give birth once a year either to one infant or twins. During this period, there is plenty of food available when the baby lemurs are weaned. The baby lemur is often hold tightly to its mother’s body and it rides on its mother’s back after 2 weeks when it is ready to survey its environment. Throughout the ring-tailed lemurs’ lives, they move from one group to another once every 3-5 years. The male lemurs leave their group after being matured, unlike the female lemurs. Their lifespan is between the ranges of 15-16 years.
Population
In addition to being listed as endangered in 2014 by the IUCN, the ring-tailed lemur has been listed since 1977 by CITES under Appendix 1, which makes trade of wild-caught specimens illegal. Although there are more endangered species of lemur, the ring-tailed lemur is considered a flagship species due to its recognizability. As of 2017, only about 2,000 ring-tailed lemurs are estimated to be left in the wild, making the threat of extinction far more serious for them than previously believed.
Threats
Habitat loss and hunting are the greatest causes of concern. The Ring-tailed Lemur has a strong preference for gallery forests and for Euphorbia bush, but these habitats are already restricted in southern Madagascar and continue to diminish due to annual burning practices that help create new pasture for livestock. Subsequent over-grazing and the felling of trees for charcoal production further impact wild populations. This species is also hunted for food in certain areas and frequently kept as a pet.
Furthermore, due to more frequent droughts in the southern regions compared with past decades, this species is increasingly threatened. They predict that a mean temperature increase of 2.6°C will occur in southern Madagascar in this century, and that this already arid region will become even drier, which will have important and largely negative biological consequences for flora and fauna inhabiting this geographic area.
Conservation
This species is listed on Appendix I of CITES. It is found in a number of protected areas including up to six national parks (Andohahela, Andringitra, Isalo, Tsimanampetsotsa, Zombitse, Vohibasia, and possibly in the southern parts of Kirindy Mitea), three special reserves (Beza Mahafaly, Kalambatritra and southern Pic d'Ivohibe), and the Berenty Private Reserve. It has also been reported recently from the unprotected forests of Ankoba, Ankodida, Anjatsikolo, Bereny, Mahazoarivo, Masiabiby, and Mikea. Many of the best remaining forest patches within the range of R, and where it appears to occur at the highest densities, are found on sacred lands. A successful conservation project at the Anja Community Reserve forest fragment has retained high densities of 6.6 individuals/ha.
As of 2009, there were an estimated 2,500 Ring-tailed Lemurs in zoos around the world, in addition to many more in smaller roadside collections, laboratories, and the pet trade. The species is not only the most common lemur in captivity, but indeed the most common of all captive primates.