What are Lemurs
Impacts for conservation
John Cleese's Woolly Lemur
Goodman's Mouse Lemur
Little Giant Mouse Lemur
Links on primate conservation in Madagascar

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What are Lemurs

Lemurs are part of the primates and belong to the prosimians because they show some primitive traits compared to further evolved primates such as monkeys, apes and humans. They are naturally only found on the island of Madagascar. With its lemurs, Madagascar ranks third in the world in primate diversity, with every taxon endemic: There are at least 30 species of recent lemurs divided into five surviving families.

• Cheirogaleidae
  Mouse and Dwarf Lemurs: These lemurs are nocturnal. They are solitary foragers but may sleep in small groups.
• Lemuridae
  True Lemurs: These lemurs have long and bushy tails used for balancing as they leap from tree o tree. They have a well developed sense of smell and often scent mark their territories and boundaries.
• Megaladapidae
  Sportive Lemurs are nocturnal and arboreal. They are primarily leaf consumers.
• Indriidae
  Woolly Lemurs, Sifakas (Propithecus spp.) and Indri (Indri indri) include the largest surviving lemurs (Indri). Some can reach more than one meter from head to toe. The Indriidae have especially long legs allowing to jump more than 9 m from tree to tree.
• Daubentoniidae
  The only member of this family is he rare Aye-Aye. They are solitary and nocturnal. They have very flexible fingers they use to reach under tree bark for larvae.

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The positive impacts of lemurs for environmental conservation in Madagascar

Daubentonia madagascariensisSince the arrival of umans on Madagascar between 2'000 and 1'500 years ago, almost 80% of the total forest cover has been lost due to extraction of precious hardwoods, fuelwood and other products as well as to land clearing and conversion for agricultural purposes and grazing lands.

The high primate diversity (at least 69 known taxas) is the country's best-known wildlife attraction and includes globally important flagship species like the Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), the Indri (Indri indri), and Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur (Microcebus berthae), with its 30 grams the world's smallest primate. Other lemurs such as the Ringtailed Lemur (Lemur catta) in Berenty or Bemaraha, the Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata vaiegata) in Manombo or the Alaotran Gentle Lemur (Hapalemur griseus alaotensis) at Lake Alaotra serve as umbrella species in their respective regions and natural habitats.

Microcebus myoxinusLemurs are, of course not the only special animals unique to the large island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The reptiles and amphibians exhibit very high levels of endemism, although for both there is only one family present on the island. Of the 340 described reptile species, 314 are confined to Madagascar, as are a stupendous 221 out of the 223 described amphibian species. About half or more of all chameleon species worldwide occur only in Madagascar, amongst them the smallest (Brookesia minima with a total length of maximum 40 mm) and the largest (Calumma parsonii, with maximum 700mm). There are not many different bird species as in Africa, but about half of them are endemic to Madagascar.

Lemur cattaThe flora is also special. At least 80% of all plant species occur only on the island of Madagascar. Lemurs as 'sympathetic' forest dwellers are playing an important role as ambassadors for conservation in Madagascar (flagship and umbrella species). Conserving lemurs means conserving forests. This would be good news for other more ignored creatures, from ants, spiders, and scorpions to chameleons and boas. In the end, saving forests would highly benefit future generations of humans too.
As long as there are still species to be discovered and scientifically described, this will sharpen the public focus for Madagascar's peculiar biodiversity and gives hope that environmental conservation will benefit on a long-term scale.

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On the following three in 2005 newly described lemur species are presented, and at least two more should follow within this same year.

John Cleese's Woolly Lemur

Avahi cleseiAvahi cleesei:Urs Thalmann and his collegues from the Anthropological Institute and Museum of the University of Zurich, discovered the woolly lemurs in the Nature Reserve of Bemaraha in 1990, but they only received their official name 15 years later, when they were named after the British comedian, producer and screen-writer John Cleese.
The woolly lemurs in Bemaraha are locally called Dadintsifaka which means 'grandparent of sifakas'. They were given this name because woolly lemurs are smaller and greyer than their white relatives, the Decken's sifaka (Propithecus deckeni).

John Cleese, fan of lemurs, agreed to be the namesake. By naming the lemur after John Cleese, Thalmann wanted to honor his films which have raised public awareness of lemurs, both in zoos (Fierce Creatures), and in the wild - Born to be Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese.

Physical traits: They have have very long legs and in resting posture, they typically hide their long tail between body and substrate. The head and body shows a brown-gray fur and has a woolly and slightly flecked appearance. The tail is beige or brown-gray, and slightly reddish only on the dorsal side of the root. The inner dorsal surface of the lower limbs is white. The fur of chest, belly and inner surface of the upper limbs is relatively thin, downy, and of very light gray.

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Goodman's Mouse Lemur

Microcebus lehilahytsaraMicrocebus lehilahytsara: Scientists with the German Primate Center (DPZ) and the University of Göttingen and their Malagasy collaborators analyzed its genetic makeup and determined it was an entirely new species of mouse lemur. 'Lehilahy' means 'man' and 'tsara' is the Malagasy word for 'good'. The scientists named it after Steven Goodman, coordinator of WWF's Ecology Training Program (ETP) and Senior Field Biologist at The Field Museum Chicago in recognition of his almost two decades lasting field research and its commitment and contribution to understanding the biological diversity of Madagascar's unique and endangered fauna (e.g., he was one of the editor of the 2003 released formidable 'The Natural History of Madgascar').
Currently, Goodman's Mouse Lemur is known to occur in Andasibe and the adjacent Mantadia National Park. Further surveys are needed to determine its distribution area.

Physical Traits: Goodman's Mouse Lemur is barely bigger than a mouse (it is one of the smaller Mouse lemurs), has a white stripe on its nose, maroon and orange fur, turning creaming-white on the ventral side, with short, rounded ears. Body Weight: males (38-64 g), females (30-54 g).

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Little Giant Mouse Lemur

Mirza zazaMirza zaza: The second newly described species by the same scientific group as for the above mentioned mouse lemur, the Little Giant Mouse Lemur, was named in honor of Madagascar's children, since 'zaza' is the Malagasy word for child. The scientists hope that future generations, the Malagasy children, will respect the lemur and that the whole natural environment will thereby benefit from it. Furthermore, the name was also chosen, because the specimens from the northern population are smaller than the others from the southern population.

Until the beginning of 2005 two subpopulations of a single nocturnal Mirza species were known (Mirza coquereli), with one distributed along the west coast (e.g., Kirindy Forest) and the other situated in the northwest of Madagascar in the Sambirano region (hitherto called the Northern Giant Mouslemur or in Malagasy 'Tanta'). Between the two subpopulation is a gap of several hundred kilometers. Comparing different morphological, behavioural and genetical traits, the scientists found that there were significant differences in 12 out of 13 measurements, which lead to the conclusion that the two subpopulations should be separated at the species level. The distribution has yet to be investigated.

Physical traits: Northern dwarf lemurs are covered with short greyish to brown fur which turns more grey on the ventral side. The hindlimbs are slightly longer than the forelimbs and the locomotion is quadrupedal. The tail is long, bushy and darker towards the tip. The ears are relatively short and rounded.

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Links for primate conservation in Madagascar

Conservation International

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

IUCN Species Survival Commission

Lemur Conservation Foundation

Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG)

Rimrock Ranch Wildlife Conservancy, Ltd.

Small World Zoological Gardens and Sanctuary

Wildlife Trust

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