Lemuridae-Townsend

Ring Tailed Lemur

﻿ Classification: Kingdom-animalia/ Phylum-chordata/ Class-mammalia/ Order-primates/ Family-lemuridae/ Genus- lemur/ Species- catta Movment: The ring-tailed lemur is one of the only lemurs to use the ground as their main transportation. They use four legs and are capable walking, running, and swinging through trees.

Eating/Diet: ring-tailed lemurs sit on their haunches (hip) and holds it's food in it's hands. They bite the food delicately with their back teeth. Some things they eat are leaves, fruits, berries, bird eggs,insects, and small mammals.

Growth and Development : Ring-tailed lemurs grow from 32-56 centimeters excluding the tail in 1 1/2 years. That is how long it takes for them to mature. It is a small to medium sized primate. Young lemurs are born with thin gray hair. They start climbing trees at 3 weeks and usually become fully independent at 6 months. Ring-tailed lemurs normally live 16-19 years in the wild and 20-26 years in captivity.

Adaptations : Some adaptations lemurs have to fit their environment is along tail to help them hang on and swing through trees. Another adaptation is that their tail is ringed. This helps them blend in and hide. The last adaptation is that they have calls for different situations. One example of this would be if there was a predator nearby they would use an alarm call that would warn the group.

Reproduction : The ring-tailed lemur's average gestation period is 135 days. This lemur normally has twins or triplets.

Gender differences : Females are dominant over males in this species.

Family Lemuridae : There is 22 species of lemur in this family. Their weight averages from 0.7 to 5 kg. The lemur species' hind legs are slightly longer than the front. Lemuridae have birth in litters from 2 to 6. All of the Lemuridae have tapetum lucidum (except the ring tailed lemur) which gives them better vision in the night.Some family members are Mongoose lemur, Black lemur,Red ruffed lemur, and the mouse lemur.