Bald Maki
| Bald Maki | ||||||||||||
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Bald Lemur ( Eulemur albifrons ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eulemur albifrons | ||||||||||||
| ( É. Geoffroy , 1796) |
The white-headed lemur ( Eulemur albifrons ) is a primate species from the group of lemurs (Lemuriformes). It used to be considered a subspecies of the brown maki .
features
White-headed lemurs, like many other representatives of the Great Makis , show a clear gender dichromatism , that is, males and females are colored differently. The fur of the males is brown on the back and becomes more reddish towards the back, the belly is light gray, the chest and throat are whitish. The face and the elongated muzzle are black, the top of the head and the bushy cheek hairs are strongly contrasting white. The females are also brown on the back and light gray on the belly, the head and face are uniformly dark gray, the snout is a little darker, the cheek hairs are not bushy. White-headed lemurs reach a body length of 39 to 42 centimeters, the tail is 50 to 54 centimeters much longer than the body. The weight is 2 to 2.6 kilograms.
distribution and habitat
Like all lemurs, bald lemurs are endemic to the island of Madagascar , their range extends in the northeast of the island between the river Bemarivo and the Mananara region and also includes the Masoala peninsula. The species was introduced on the island of Nosy Mangabe . Their habitat are primary and secondary rainforests between sea level and 1670 meters above sea level.
Way of life
These primates are cathemeral , that is, they do not have a distinct day-night rhythm, so their calls can be heard at dawn, dusk and at night. They are tree dwellers who rarely come to the ground, in the branches they usually move on all fours. They live in groups with an average of eight to nine animals, there is no recognizable hierarchy in the groups.
Their main food is ripe and unripe fruits, for example from star bushes or figs . To a lesser extent, they also eat leaves, flowers and other parts of plants, as well as small animals such as insects , spiders and millipedes .
In September or October, the female gives birth to a single young after a gestation period of around 120 days.
threat
The destruction of their habitat by slash and burn and mining represent the main threat to the white-headed lemurs. In addition, they are hunted in some places for their meat. The IUCN fears that the total population has declined by 30% in the last 24 years and lists the species as "endangered" ( vulnerable ).
In Germany the species is kept in nine zoos.
literature
- Nick Garbutt: Mammals of Madagascar. A Complete Guide. Yale University Press, New Haven CT 2007, ISBN 978-0-300-12550-4 .
- 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.
Web links
- Photos, videos and information at arkive.org
- Eulemur albifrons onthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . Retrieved April 2, 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zoo animal list , accessed on March 11, 2017.