O´ryan (tri-colored lemur)

Have you heard of an animal with 6 fingers?

If you thought lemur, you were right!

Overview

They are medium sized lemurs with a distinctive color pattern.

They are mostly found on eastern rainforests of Madagascar, including lowland and montane forests.

They are arboreal which means they spend most of their time in trees, they come down to the ground for food.

They are very social animals, they form strong bonds with the people that they are closely related to

Physical description: Tricolored lemurs are typically medium sized, adults weigh in between 2 to 3 kilograms. Their tail is approximately 50 to 55 centimeters, it is longer than their body to help with balance. They have a beautiful tri colored coat pattern. Their. Back is covered in black dense fur, their underside including the belly and the chest is white, and they have reddish brown patches extending to their sides from their

shoulders to hips. They tend to have a relatively short and rounded muzzle with a small pink nose. They have large brown eyes which helps them have good visual activity to be able to navigate through the forest.

Diet and eating habits: Lemurs are mostly herbivores, which means they mostly consume plants. They diet mostly consist of fruits, leaves, flowers and occasionally seeds, bark, and insects. Fruits provide vitamins, sugars and minerals, leaves provide fiber and

other nutrients that are important for digestion while flowers provide other nutrients and proteins. The kind of fruits they primarily consume are figs, berries and other ripe fruits you can find in the rainforest canopy. Very rarely they supplement their diet with insects, small invertebrates and other protein rich prey. What they eat depends on availability and the season.

Behavior and personality: They tend to be social animals that live in medium sized groups called troops. They

communicate by making a variety of vocalizations and also using their body language and scent marking. They tend to be very playful with other members of the troop but being very protective and defensive of their territory.

Domestication and uses: Lemurs are nor domesticated because they have a very specific behavior that

doesn’t allow them to meet in captive environments. Instead of domestication tri colored lemurs are being conserved in their natural habitats. They are trying to protect lemurs from dangers such as deforestation, habitat loss, hunting and illegal trade.

Cultural significance: Lemurs are often regarded as sacred animals in Madagascar, they are known to

posses spiritual significance. They are considered guardians of the forest and harming them would cause bad luck or mis fortune. In many regions of

Madagascar there are cultural taboos prohibiting hunting, killing, or consuming lemur and their body parts. This protects lemurs and their habitats.

Economic importance: They don’t have a direct impact on economy the same way that live stock does. They draw a lot of tourism to Madagascar, people all over the world visit tri colored lemurs in Madagascar. They also contribute to the ecosystem they help with seed dispersion, pollination and nutrient cycling.

Conservation status: Lemurs are at high risk of extinction is conservation efforts aren’t implemented. Since they are mostly found in forests of Madagascar they are loosing their habitat quickly due to deforestation, logging, agricultural expansion and human activities. There are also laws in place that prevents people to hunt them, but despite those laws they are still being hunted. Climate change is something there cant be

anything done about, but when their habitat is taken away and they are loosing resources to care for themselves they are having a harder time to be able to survive when natural disasters happen.

Takeaway

Tri-colored lemurs are beautiful animals with a unique personality. They are found in the forests of Madagascar. Their habitat is endangered and they are being conserved as much as possible to refrain from them going extinct if you want to help and be a part of the change click the link below

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