Key Terms
- Primate:,
the group of animals that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans. They share
special characteristics like having nails instead of claws, have a tendency
toward sitting upright, and
binocular (3D) vision, among others
- Lemur: the only primate native to the island of Madagascar. These animals have characteristics that set them apart from other primates; for example, they rely on their sense of smell more than monkeys do. They are “prosimians”, meaning that they are more primitive
- Forage: looking for food
- Terrestrial: spending time on the ground
- Adaptation: a special change or modification in an animal that helps it survive in its environment
- Torpor: like hibernation, a state of dormancy
- Biodiversity: a variety of plant and animal life in the natural environment
- Ecosystem: living things and the environment they inhabit
- Habitat: where an animal lives, will have food, shelter, water and other
resources that the animal needs to survive
What is a Lemur?
o Lemurs are a special type of primate that are only found naturally on the island of Madagascar and a few surrounding islands. Can you name some other primates? (Monkeys, apes, us!)
o All are endangered or considered threatened
o All primates and animals have to eat, and since there are many different kinds of lemurs, they all eat different kinds of things. They are primarily vegetarian and eat a variety of fruits, leaves, flowers, vegetables and insects.
More about lemurs from:
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemur
Science Daily - http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/l/lemur.htm
Duke Lemur Center: http://lemur.duke.edu/animals/whatis.php
A Few Examples of Lemurs
Ring tailed lemurs
o In the book “Lunch with Aunt Augusta” the ring tailed lemurs have milkshakes; do you think that lemurs would really have milkshakes? No. But they do eat many different things. Lemurs will forage for their food.
o In the book, the lemurs talk to each other the way that we do, in reality they communicate with each other by making vocalizations that sound like a very loud cat meowing. (Their scientific name is Lemur catta).
o The lemurs in the book go to visit family members, but real lemurs will live in large groups with many other lemurs that they are related to. In a group of ring tailed lemurs there will be moms and dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins.
o Out of all the lemurs that live in Madagascar, ring tailed lemurs are the most terrestrial, meaning that they spend the most time on the ground but they will jump from tree to tree.
o Ring tailed lemurs will eat fruit, leaves, flowers, herbs, bark, sap, insects and small vertebrates. Their favorite leaves to eat come from the kily tree.
Bamboo
lemurs
o
These small lemurs live in and eat only
bamboo. Can you think of another animal that eats only bamboo? (Pandas)
o
¾ or 75% of their diet is bamboo. They may
also eat fruit, leaves and fungus.
o Did you know that bamboo is toxic? Giant bamboo contains cyanide, which can kill humans if they eat it. These animals have special adaptations that help them eat only bamboo
Aye-aye
o This very unusual prosimian has a very long middle finger that it uses to tap on branches to find bugs and larvae to eat. Once it finds the larvae in the branch it will use its incisors, or front teeth, that are always growing, to get it out. These are more examples of adaptations
Fat
tailed Dwarf Lemur
o
These unique lemurs will be in a state of
torpor, which is kind of like
hibernation for 6 months during the dry season. They do this because there
is not as much food around during this period.
o
Before they go in to torpor, the fat tailed
dwarf lemur will eat fruits that have lots of sugars. They will store fat in
their tails to give them nourishment during the dry season.
Biodiversity
o
From these examples, you can see that even
though lemurs are only found in one place, they are all very unique. This is
an example of biodiversity or biological
diversity. This means that there is a variety of plant and animal life,
and this variety is good! This biodiversity can be measured by the number of
different animals living in an area, or the different kinds of
ecosystems that can be found in
one place. Again, Madagascar is special because it has many different
ecosystems, or special places to live. There are rainforests, savannas and
deserts.
Threats to Biodiversity
o
But, because these animals are only found on
Madagascar, this means that changes to their environment can greatly impact
them. For example, much of Madagascar used to be covered by forests, but
some of these forests were burned to grow rice.
Losing habitats means that some animals may not have places to live.
People can be a very large threat to biodiversity, but there are lots
of individuals and groups that are working to make a difference.
Conservation
o
The
Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, FL is home to the
Myakka City Lemur Reserve. There
are 33 lemurs representing 8 different taxa that live at the Reserve.
Some of them live in large forest enclosures, so they
have the opportunity to do many of the same things that the wild lemurs in
Madagascar do. LCF also has an
alliance with the Tampolo Forest
Reserve in Madagascar; this reserve is home to 7 different taxa of
lemurs. Protecting this land means protecting
biodiversity in Madagascar.
Things you can do at home:
There are lots of small things that you can
do every day to help conserve not just animals like lemurs, but important
resources like water and land. While it may not seem like you are making a
huge difference, you really are, the little things add up. Here are some
suggestions:
1.
Recycle! If there is not a recycling
center nearby where you live, be creative with reusing materials. For
example, if you have paper that has been used on one side use the other
side, or collect a number of sheets that have been used on one side and make
a journal (you can glue the sides that have been written on together).
2.
Turn off the water when you brush your
teeth.
3.
Turn off lights when you leave the room.
4. Carpool, walk (or bike, rollerblade, skateboard) if possible.