Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Pet lemurs

For all those animal lovers who want to have distinguished types of pets, who wouldn't like to have pet lemurs. Having lemurs as pets wouldn't sound something uncommon to anyone who has seen these cute, cuddly creatures. Now, what is this article all about. Well, as any of us, who has watched the movie Madagascar knows that lemurs are found only in Madagascar. Definitely, going all the way to Madagascar, for getting a lemur as a pet is not going to be a cheap affair. So the best way to get a lemur is finding out a pet shop that breed lemurs. Anyway, before going into these details, let me provide you with some interesting facts about lemurs.
Lemurs Facts
Lemur is a Latin word, which means ghost. The name was given to these animals because of them being nocturnal creatures.
Lemurs like humans belong to the primates group. However, they are classified into the group of prosimians, the oldest primate group, even before the monkeys.
One interesting fact is that lemurs actually traveled to Madagascar on rafts and wood in the ocean to get away from their predators in Africa.
In Madagascar, several new species of lemurs originated, some of them could even be active during the day.
The worst part is that about half the lemurs that are born every year die.
Lemurs stay in groups of 7 to 10 and live in trees and bushes. Their main food consists of leaves and fruits, but they also eat insects and little animals.
The largest lemur that has been discovered till date weighs just 15 pounds.
Now for the last but the most important among the lemurs facts. Lemurs have been declared to fall into the list of endangered species. The reason for them to fall into the class of endangered species, is undoubtedly, yet again, men. Until humans reached the Madagascar, there was no natural predator of the lemurs.
Lemurs as Pets
Now, let's get back to the topic of having lemurs as pets. Since, lemurs already fall in the class of endangered species, so you must have already understood that getting a lemur from its native island, will definitely be something illegal. Besides, the United States government has some strict laws against importing of foreign animals. These laws are there to prevent the occurrence of any foreign disease or epidemic. So, the only way that remains open to you is that you need to search for a pet shop on the Internet, that breeds lemurs. If you happen to find one, take into consideration that you choose a male lemur. Lemurs fall in the class of those primates, where the male is more submissive than the female. A male lemur can hence, be trained more easily as compared to a female lemur. Another point that you need to take into consideration is that you should verify that the lemur was born and bred in captivity.
Another important point that needs to be taken into consideration are the different species of lemurs to choose from. There are about 30 species of lemurs. Many species of lemurs are already in the list of extinct animals. Some researchers who have studied lemurs also say that there was one species of lemurs that was as large as a gorilla. Lemurs are basically classified according to their weight. The smallest one is the tiny pygmy mouse lemur and the largest as mentioned in the lemurs facts is the Indri lemur, which weighs 15 pounds. Let us take a look at the two most interesting types of lemurs that you can have as pets.
Mouse Lemurs as Pets
Mouse lemurs weigh something around 4.7 to 5.7 inches in length. There are different varieties of mouse lemurs too, like the pygmy mouse lemur, the gray mouse lemur etc. Each of them have different physical traits. However, some of the aspects continue to be the same. They have soft fur, long hind legs, long tails, large eyes and a dorsal strips down the back.
Ring Tailed Lemurs as Pets
Ring tailed lemurs are larger than the mouse lemurs. Their front legs are shorter than the back legs and hence, they always stick up their butts in the air. Ring tailed lemurs, unlike the other lemur varieties spend some considerable amount of time on the ground. An adult ring tailed lemur can reach up to a length of 15 to 18 inches and weigh 5 to 8 pounds.
One important aspect that you need to understand before you take a lemur as a pet is that it's not meant to be a pet animal. Undoubtedly you can tame them, but then, once you have taken a lemur as a pet at a very young age then there are chances, that with increasing age, the lemur may simply take you for granted and get more aggressive. It may be a good idea to take lemurs as pets, but breeding lemurs may not definitely be the right thing that you want to do. Rather, it's preferable that you get the lemur neutered at a young age, so that on maturity it does not get unnecessarily aggressive and hard to manage.
So, this was all the information that I could provide to you about lemurs. What's more important is not taking in a lemur as a pet, but rather taking into consideration that this first generation of primates is in the class of endangered animals. Any animal or nature lover would not like to see these creatures falling into the class of extinct species. A lemur's natural habitat is its best home.

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