Lemurs
| Lemurs | ||||||||||||
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Brown fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus major ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cheirogaleidae | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1873 |
The lemurs or small lemurs (Cheirogaleidae) are a primate family from the group of lemurs (Lemuriformes). They are small, nocturnal, predominantly tree-dwelling animals that live in various forest forms in Madagascar . The family currently comprises over 40 species in five genera.
description
Lemurs are relatively generalized, small primates. The head body length is 9 to 29 centimeters, the tail measures 13 to 37 centimeters and their weight varies between 25 and 600 grams. The smallest representative - and smallest primate ever - is the Berthe mouse lemur , the largest representatives are the forked lemurs and fat-tailed lemurs . Their physique is elongated, the tail is longer than the trunk. The limbs are relatively short, with the hind legs being slightly longer than the front legs. All fingers and toes wear nails except for all wet-nosed monkeys existing grooming claw on the second toe. Their fur is soft and woolly, it is usually gray or brown and is lighter on the underside.
The head is rounded, the eyes are large and close together, the ears are large, thin and often hairless. The tooth formula is I 2 / 2- C 1 / 1- P 3 / 3- M 3/3, so you have a total of 36 teeth. As in most wet-nosed monkeys, the lower incisors and canines form a tooth comb . The upper incisors, unlike many other lemurs, are relatively large.
distribution and habitat
Like all lemurs, the lemurs are only found on the island of Madagascar . They live in different forest forms, both in the dry forests of the west and in the rain forests of the east coast, but they are absent in the central, unforested highlands. These primates are relatively widespread and common, with two or more species of sympatric in many regions .
Lifestyle and diet
Cat lemurs are nocturnal tree dwellers. During the day they sleep in tree hollows, leaf nests and other shelters, at night they search for food. They usually move on all fours through the branches, but they can also jump far, with the long tail serving for balance. They rarely come to the ground.
Social behavior is variable, with many species forming groups of different compositions. In some species, the territory of a male overlaps that of several females, other species live at least partially in monogamous family groups. The animals in a group often spend the day sleeping in a shared shelter, but at night they look for food separately. Areas are often marked with glandular secretions, and sounds also serve to point conspecifics about their own roaming area.
In order to deal with the dry season and the associated lack of food, some species fall into a daily or longer-lasting torpor (rigid state) during this time , in which the body temperature is not kept at a stable level, but adapts to the outside temperature. The metabolic rate also drops significantly. In the fat-tailed lemur, these dormant states last for several months and can be referred to as hibernation . Before the dry season, fat reserves are stored in the tail, which means that the weight of a species is subject to strong seasonal fluctuations.
Cat lemurs are omnivores that eat fruits, flowers, nectar and other plant material as well as insects, spiders and small vertebrates. The composition of the food varies according to the season, and meat-based nutrition often plays a more important role in the dry season. The lemurs , on the other hand, have specialized in a diet made from tree sap.
Reproduction
The females usually have three pairs of teats. Like most lemurs, reproduction is highly seasonal, the mating season is at the beginning of the rainy season (around November), and the females are often only ready for conception for a very short period of time. After a gestation period of around 60 days, they give birth to one to four (usually two or three) young. The boys spend their first weeks of life in their mother's shelter, later they are carried around by her. After about one to two months, the young are weaned and are sexually mature towards the end of the first or in the course of the second year of life. In human care, some species have been found to be over 20 years old, but life expectancy is probably lower in the wild.
threat
The natural enemies of the lemurs include owls , snakes and the Malagasy predators . The man-made threats include the destruction of their habitat through slash and burn, deforestation and charcoal production. In general, they are less endangered than larger lemurs, but no data are available for many of the newly described species.
Systematics
In the past, the lemur were sometimes integrated into the Lemuridae , due to differences in physique, in the way of life and others, they are now mostly considered an independent family.
In 2008, Mittermeier divided the family into five genera with around 30 species. There are also a few other species that have been newly described since then.
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Fork-striped lemurs ( Phaner ):
- Northern fork- lined lemur ( Phaner electromontis )
- Masoala lemur lemur ( Phaner furcifer )
- Western lemur lemur ( Phaner pallescens )
- Sambirano- Fork-Striped Lemur ( Phaner parienti )
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Fat-tailed lemurs or real cat lemurs ( Cheirogaleus ):
- Cheirogaleus andysabini
- Reddish fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus crossleyi )
- Cheirogaleus grovesi
- Lavasoa lemur ( Cheirogaleus lavasoensis )
- Brown or large fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus major )
- Western fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus medius )
- Lesser gray fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus minusculus )
- Great gray fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus ravus )
- Cheirogaleus shethi
- Back striped fat- tailed lemur ( Cheirogaleus sibreei )
- Cheirogaleus thomasi
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Allocebus
- Tussock lemur ( Allocebus trichotis )
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Giant mouse lemurs ( Mirza ):
- Northern giant mouse lemur ( Mirza zaza ) and
- Southern giant mouse lemur ( Mirza coquereli )
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Mouse lemurs ( Microcebus ):
- Arnhold's lemur ( Microcebus arnholdi )
- Berthe-Mausmaki ( Microcebus berthae )
- Bongolava mouse lemur ( Microcebus bongolavensis )
- Microcebus boraha
- Danfoss mouse lemur ( Microcebus danfossi )
- Gerps Mausmaki ( Microcebus gerpi )
- Gray-brown mouse lemur ( Microcebus griseorufus )
- Jolly mouse lemur ( Microcebus jollyae )
- Jonah's mouse lemur ( Microcebus jonahi )
- Goodman mouse lemur ( Microcebus lehilahytsara )
- MacArthur mouse lemur ( Microcebus macarthurii )
- Claire's mouse lemur ( Microcebus mamiratra )
- Microcebus manitatra
- Margot Marsh mouse lemur ( Microcebus margotmarshae )
- Marohita mouse lemur ( Microcebus marohita )
- Mittermeier mouse lemur ( Microcebus mittermeieri )
- Gray mouse lemur ( Microcebus murinus )
- Dwarf mouse lemur ( Microcebus myoxinus )
- Golden-brown mouse lemur ( Microcebus ravelobensis )
- Brown mouse lemur ( Microcebus rufus )
- Sambirano lemur ( Microcebus sambiranensis )
- Simmons lemons ( Microcebus simmonsi )
- Anosy mouse lemur ( Microcebus tanosi )
- Northern mouse lemur ( Microcebus tavaratra )
The lemurs form their own subfamily (Phanerinae), which are opposite to the other genera (Cheirogaleinae). The systematic relationships up to the genre level are expressed in the following cladogram :
| Cat lemurs (Cheirogaleidae) |
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literature
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 2002, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
- Russell A. Mittermeier , Jörg U. Ganzhorn, William R. Konstant, Kenneth Glander, Ian Tattersall , Colin P. Groves , Anthony B. Rylands, Andreas Hapke, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Mireya I. Mayor, Edward Louis jr, Yves Rumpler, Christoph Schwitzer, Rodin Rasoloarison: Lemur Diversity in Madagascar. In: International Journal of Primatology. 29, 2008, ISSN 0164-0291 , pp. 1607-1656.
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
