There are many types of lemurs, and some live in different layers of the rainforest than others. For example, the ring-tailed lemur spends much of its time in the understory, or ground level, of the rainforest, although it does spend some time in the canopy. The ruffed lemur, however, lives in the canopy, or the tops of the large rainforest trees.
Ring-tailed lemur
Lemur catta
Ring-tailed lemurs are the most easily recognisable species of lemur as they are the only species to have a ringed tail and are commonly found in zoos and they sleep on trees in the rainforest
Subspecies
None.
Life span
27 years.
Statistics
Head and body length: 42cm, Tail length: 60cm, Weight: Female: 2.6kg, Male: 2.7kg.
Physical description
Ring-tailed lemurs have a grey back, with white under-parts and a white fox-like face with dark brown eye patches. They have a distinctive black and white ringed tail.
Distribution
They inhabit Madagascar.
Habitat
Ring-tailed lemurs live in spiny desert and dry forest, and scrub.
Diet
Although fruit makes up 70 per cent of their diet, they also feed on leaves, bark, sap and flowers.
Behaviour
Ring-tailed lemurs are diurnal and arboreal. They are more terrestrial than other lemurs and move quadrupedally across the forest floor. When it is sunny, they spend time sunbathing. Females are dominant to males, and the dominance hierarchies between females are complicated and changeable. Group size varies from 5-30, but averages at 17 members of mixed sex, but with one dominant female.
Reproduction
Females give birth to one infant after a gestation period of 134-138 days. The mother carries the infant ventrally for its first weeks and then carries it on her back.
Conservation status
Ring-tailed lemurs are endangered, due to the growth of human settlements and by hunting.
Ring-tailed lemurs live in Madagascar. Primarily they live similar to that of small monkeys by living in the canopy of the trees. Some lemurs can live on cliffsides and live through grasslands.
Ring Tailed Lemurs live in Madagascar in Madagascar
The Ring-tailed Lemur lives in the forests of Madagascar.
it lives in the Amazon rainforest
Ring-tailed lemurs can live for up to 20-25 years in the wild.
in the rainforest
The ring-tailed lemur lives in southwest Madagascar.
Lemurs typically live in the understory layer of the rainforest, which is the layer beneath the canopy where there is less light and vegetation is more dense. They are known to move between the understory and the canopy to find food and shelter.
Ring-tailed lemurs can live for up to 20-25 years in the wild.
Ring-tailed lemurs live in gallery forests and they spiny forests of southern and southwestern Madagascar.
Some species of lemur live in rainforests, such as the ruffed lemurs (found in some zoos), the indri, and the larger sifakas (known as simponas). Other lemurs, such as the ring-tailed lemur and the smaller sifakas tend to live in dry scrub, deciduous forest, or other habitat types.
In some mountainous areas of Madagascar, the ring-tailed lemur deals with temperatures drop to around freezing at night and then rise to over 100 degrees F during the day.