A Madagascar endemic: Moscow Zoo’s ring-tailed lemurs and their newborn offspring

A new addition to the family of the ring-tailed lemurs appeared in the Moscow Zoo. The pup was born around mid-March; it is still too small to leave its mother, clinging to her belly. The ring-tailed lemurs are a Madagascar endemic species, which means they can only inhabit the said island and nowhere else. They have quite a few names, like ring-tailed lemurs and catta lemurs. On Madagascar, they are known as maky. They are on the Red List of Threatened Species.

“In Latin, lemur means evil spirit. The legend has it that the ring-tailed lemurs once gave a good scare to the explorers from Ancient Rome who first went ashore Madagascar in the dead of the night. Their glowing eyes and disturbing noises coming from the woods frightened the travelers. This encounter resulted in such an intimidating name for these little critters. We encourage you to visit our zoo and see for yourself that lemurs, in fact, are far from being evil. On the contrary, they are absolutely harmless, very sociable, mischievous, and friendly. The Moscow Zoo houses two groups of this species – 14 lemurs in total. Both families live in the Monkey House pavilion of the new zoo area. This March, one of the group’s couple – a female Suomi and a male Bars – had an offspring. You can make out the pup’s silhouette against its mom’s fluffy body,” said Svetlana Akulova, Director General of the Moscow Zoo.

Svetlana also added that Suomi is an experienced parent. She is a 12-year-old lemur and a mother of six. Suomi is carrying her child on her belly, protecting it from all the potential dangers. In no time, the little one will move onto her back, and when it is two months old, it will start exploring the ground to run around the closure and play.

Bars has also always shown himself a caring father. When the pup gets bigger and heavier, he will also take it on his back, giving the mother time to rest. Other relatives of the group will help to raise the child, too.

In the meantime, the newborn’s sex is impossible to determine, but the initial medical examination stated that the lemur is healthy. Next half a year, it will drink its mother’s milk, although eventually it will try the “grown-up” food. The ring-tailed lemurs have quite a diverse diet: they eat various fruits and vegetables, quail eggs, greenery, sunflower seeds, nuts, meat, locusts, and mineral supplements. They are also not averse to eating young grass.

The ring-tailed lemurs of the Moscow Zoo have offspring almost every year. This is a prerequisite for a successful implementation of the captive breeding program. As a rule, once the little ones grow up, they are sent to the leading Russian or foreign zoos to create their own families and raise their own pups. For example, Suomi and Bars older children now live in the Minsk Zoo and the Veliky Ustyug branch of the Moscow Zoo.

The range of the species distribution of the ring-tailed lemurs is in south and southwest Madagascar. They are truly indigenous residents of the island: studying the fossilized remains of ancient lemurs, scientists have come to the conclusion that lemuriformes lived in Africa since as early as 60 million years ago. These little animals inhabit tropical, deciduous, and mixed coniferous forests, spending most of their time on the ground.

However, the number of the endangered species is steadily declining due to the destruction of its natural habitat and poaching. As estimated by zoologists, the total population of ring-tailed lemurs is approximately 10,000, while scarcely 2,000 of which live in the wild. In recent years, the release of the famous animated feature film with these mischievous critters as one of the main characters boosted the popularity of the species among fans of exotic pets. However, zoologists demand to keep in mind that catta are wild animals and recommend not to have them as house pets.

Ring-tailed lemurs have a catchy look. Their backs, paws and foreheads have hazel-colored fur, while their muzzles, chests and bellies are white. Signature black circles around their noses and yellow eyes form a peculiar mask of sorts. Their behavior resembles that of primates, yet they remain a size of a cat (lemurs’ weight ranges from 2.5 to 3.5 kg).

However, the long fluffy tail is the real centerpiece of ring-tailed lemurs’ appearance. It usually has over 10 black and white rings (hence the name), can be over half a meter long and can weigh 1.5 kg. For primates, the tail is a tool of communication. Lemurs use it to make signals about their location to each other. During the mating season, males wag it in front of females to attract their attention. The tail also helps lemurs to keep their balance while jumping between the trees at daytime and keeps them warm at night.

Lemurs are active all day long, but the nocturnality is very strong with them. They can’t stand solitude and prefer gathering in conspiracies of 30. Lemurs live in strictly matriarchal communities, where all relations are determined by the alpha female. At dawn, lemurs love to huddle together to bask in the sun. They sit with their paws stretched and their bellies exposed (that’s where the fur is the thinnest). To onlookers, it might look like they are meditating. The lemurs are also extremely chatty: they can grunt, purr, howl, squeal, and click their tongues.

Ring-tailed lemurs are omnivore. In the wild, the abundance of the plant food conditions them to eat mainly figs, berries, flowers, cacti, leaves and tree bark; however, they also love eating eggs, larvae, spiders, grasshoppers, chameleons and small birds. The lifespan of Madagascar lemurs in the wild rarely exceeds 16 years, while in captivity they can live up to 30 years.

This year, another exotic child was born in the Moscow Zoo. It is a hatchling of a rare Mexican beaded lizard. Beaded lizards are the only venomous lizards on Earth. This family comprises only two species: Mexican beaded lizard and Gila monster. You can find the little one in the separate Wonderful World of Reptiles enclosure in the old part of the Zoo.