Ring-tailed lemur

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Ring-tailed lemur[1]
Conservation status
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification
Linnaeus, 1758
Species:L. catta
Binomial name
Lemur catta
Linnaeus, 1758
Distribution of Lemur catta[4]


  • Prosimia Brisson, 1762[N 1]
  • Procebus Storr, 1780
  • Catta Link, 1806[N 2]
  • Maki Muirhead, 1819[N 3]
  • Mococo Trouessart, 1878[N 4]
  • Odorlemur Bolwig, 1960


  • Maki mococo Muirhead, 1819[N 5]
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Ring-tailed lemur[1]
Conservation status
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification
Linnaeus, 1758
Species:L. catta
Binomial name
Lemur catta
Linnaeus, 1758
Distribution of Lemur catta[4]


  • Prosimia Brisson, 1762[N 1]
  • Procebus Storr, 1780
  • Catta Link, 1806[N 2]
  • Maki Muirhead, 1819[N 3]
  • Mococo Trouessart, 1878[N 4]
  • Odorlemur Bolwig, 1960


  • Maki mococo Muirhead, 1819[N 5]







The genus name Lemur was created by Carl Linnaeus, the founder of modern binomial nomenclature, to describe only three species,[7] [5] but the word eventually became the collective name used for all primates endemic to Madagascar. Linnaeus was familiar with the historical works of Virgil and Ovid and their references to the festival of Lemuria, during which specters or ghosts—referred to as lemures—were exorcised. As an analogy to these ghosts from Roman mythology, he created the name "Lemur" to include these prosimian primates[8][9] due to their nocturnal habits and ghost-like appearance.[10] Their noiseless movements at night, reflective eyes, and ghostly cries may also have been a factor. It is even possible that Linnaeus knew that some Malagasy people have held legends that lemurs are the souls of their ancestors.[11]


Evolutionary history

All mammalian fossils from Madagascar come from recent times.[12] Thus, little is known about the evolution of the ring-tailed lemur, let alone the rest of the lemur clade, which comprises the entire endemic primate population of the island. However, chromosomal and molecular evidence suggest that lemurs are more closely related to each other than to other Strepsirrhine primates. For this to have happened, it is thought that a very small ancestral population came to Madagascar via a single rafting event between 50 and 80 million years ago.[8][12][13] Subsequent evolutionary radiation and speciation has created the diversity of Malagasy lemurs seen today.[14]





Taxonomic classification


The ring-tailed lemur shares many similarities with ruffed lemurs (genus Varecia) and true lemurs (genus Eulemur), and its skeleton is nearly indistinguishable from that of the true lemurs.[17] Consequently, the three genera were once grouped together in the genus Lemur and more recently are sometimes referred to as subfamily Lemurinae (within family Lemuridae). However, ruffed lemurs were reassigned to the genus Varecia in 1962,[1] and due to similarities between the ring-tailed lemur and the bamboo lemurs, particularly in regards to molecular evidence and scent glands similarities, the true lemurs were moved to the genus Eulemur by Yves Rumpler and Elwyn Simons (1988) as well as Colin Groves and Robert H. Eaglen (1988).[1][5][17][18] In 1991, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey H. Schwartz reviewed the evidence and came to a different conclusion, instead favoring to return the members of Eulemur and Varecia to the genus Lemur. However, this view was not widely accepted and the genus Lemur remained monotypic, containing only the ring-tailed lemur.[1][18][19] Because the differences in molecular data are so minute between the ring-tailed lemur and both genera of bamboo lemurs, it has been suggested that all three genera be merged.[16]


Taxonomy of family Lemuridae[1][18][19]Phylogeny of family Lemuridae[13][15][16][20]

Varecia (ruffed lemurs)

Lemur (ring-tailed lemur)

Prolemur (greater bamboo lemur)

Hapalemur (lesser bamboo lemurs)

Eulemur (true lemurs)


Anatomy and physiology


The ring-tailed lemur's tail is longer than its body.

The species has a slender frame and narrow face, fox-like muzzle.[5] The ring-tailed lemur's trademark—a long, bushy tail—is ringed in alternating black and white transverse stripes, numbering 12 or 13 white rings and 13 or 14 black rings, and always ending in a black tip.[5][17][23] The total number of rings nearly matches the approximate number of caudal vertebrae (~25).[24] Its tail is longer than its body[23] and is not prehensile. Instead, it is only used for balance, communication, and group cohesion.[19]

The pelage (fur) is so dense that it can clog electric clippers.[5] The ventral (chest) coat and throat are white or cream. The dorsal (back) coat varies from gray to rosy-brown, sometimes with a brown pygal patch around the tail region, where the fur grades to pale gray or grayish brown. The dorsal coloration is slightly darker around the neck and crown. The hair on the throat, cheeks, and ears is white or off-white and also less dense, allowing the dark skin underneath to show through.[5][6][19] The muzzle is dark grayish and the nose is black, and the eyes are encompassed by black triangular patches.[5][19] Facial vibrissae (whiskers) are developed and found above the lips (mystacal), on the cheeks (genal), and on the eyebrow (superciliary). Vibrissae are also found slightly above the wrist on the underside of the forearm.[5] The ears are relatively large compared to other lemurs and are covered in hair, which has only small tufts if any.[5][6] Although slight pattern variations in the facial region may be seen between individuals, there are no obvious differences between the sexes.[5]




Females have two pairs of mammary glands (four nipples), but only one pair is functional.[5][6] The anterior pair (closest to the head) are very close to the axillae (armpit).[5] Furless scent glands are present on both males and females. Both genders have small, dark antebrachial (forearm) glands measuring 1 cm long and located on the inner surface of the forearm nearly 25 cm (9.8 in) above the wrist joint.[5][6][19] (This trait is shared between the Lemur and Hapalemur genera.[19]) The gland is soft and compressible, bears fine dermal ridges (like fingerprints), and is connected to the palm by a fine, 2 mm–high, hairless strip.[5] However, only the male has a horny spur that overlays this scent gland.[5][6][19] The spur develops with age through the accumulation of secretions from an underlying gland that may connect through the skin through as many as a thousand minuscule ducts. The males also have brachial (arm) glands on the axillary surface of their shoulders (near the armpit). The brachial gland is larger than the antebrachial gland, covered in short hair around the periphery, and has a naked crescent-shaped orifice near the center. The gland secretes a foul-smelling, brown, sticky substance.[5] The brachial gland is barely developed if present at all in females.[5][6] Both genders also have apocrine and sebaceous glands in their genital or perianal regions,[26] which are covered in fur.[6]





The ring-tailed lemur has a dentition of Upper:, lower:, total: 36, meaning that on each side of the jaw it has two incisors, one canine tooth, three premolars, and three molar teeth.[5] Its deciduous dentition is Upper: 2.1.3, lower: 2.1.3, total: 24.[29] The permanent teeth erupt in the following order: m 1/1 (first molars), i 2/2 (first incisors), i 3/3 (second incisors), C1 (upper canines), m 2/2 (second molars), c1 (lower canines), m 3/3 (third molars), p 4/4 (third premolars), p 3/3 (second premolars), p 2/2 (first premolars).[5]




The ring-tailed lemur can leap from tree to tree.



The ring-tailed lemur has both native and introduced predators. Native predators include the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), the Madagascar Harrier-Hawk (Polyboroides radiatus), the Madagascar Buzzard (Buteo brachypterus) and the Madagascar ground boa (Boa madagascariensis). Introduced predators include the small Indian civet (Viverricula indica), the domestic cat and the domestic dog.[23]

Geographic range and habitat











Social systems



For males, social structure changes can be seasonal. During the six-month period between December and May a few males immigrate between groups. Established males transfer every 3.5 years,[32] although young males may transfer every 1.4 years. Group fission occurs when groups get too large and resources become scarce.[36]




Olfactory communication


Olfactory communication is critically important for prosimians like the ring-tailed lemur. Males and females scent mark both vertical and horizontal surfaces at the overlaps in their home ranges using their anogenital scent glands. The ring-tailed lemur will perform a handstand to mark vertical surfaces, grasping the highest point with its feet while it applies its scent.[36] Use of scent marking varies by age, sex and social status.[37] Male lemurs use their antebrachial and brachial glands to demarcate territories and maintain intragroup dominance hierarchies. The thorny spur that overlays the antebrachial gland on each wrist is scraped against tree trunks to create grooves anointed with their scent. This is known as spur-marking.[36]

In displays of aggression, males engage in a social display behaviour called stink fighting, which involves impregnating their tails with secretions from the antebrachial and brachial glands and waving the scented tail at male rivals.[38] During the mating season, males wave their scented tails at females as a form of sexual overture; this usually results in the female cuffing or biting the male and elicits subordinate vocalizations from the male.

Ring-tailed lemurs have also been shown to mark using urine. Behaviorally, there is a difference between regular urination, where the tail is slightly raised and a stream of urine is produced, and the urine marking behavior, where the tail is held up in display and only a few drops of urine are used.[39][40] The urine-marking behavior is typically used by females to mark territory, and has been observed primarily at the edges of the troop's territory and in areas where other troops may frequent.[41] The urine marking behavior also is most frequent during the mating season, and may play a role in reproductive communication between groups.[39]

Auditory communication

Ring-tailed lemurs are some of the most vocal primates.



Breeding and reproduction

A female ring-tailed lemur sits in a tree while nursing her infant




Cognitive abilities and tool use

Historically, the studies of learning and cognition in non-human primates have focused on simians (monkeys and apes), while strepsirrhine primates, such as the ring-tailed lemur and its allies, have been overlooked and popularly dismissed as unintelligent.[45] A couple of factors stemming from early experiments have played a role in the development of this assumption. First, the experimental design of older tests may have favored the natural behavior and ecology of simians over that of strepsirrhines, making the experimental tasks inappropriate for lemurs. For example, simians are known for their manipulative play with non-food objects, whereas lemurs are only known to manipulate non-food objects in captivity.[46] This behaviour is usually connected with food association. Also, lemurs are known to displace objects with their nose or mouth more so than with their hands.[45] Therefore, an experiment requiring a lemur to manipulate an object without prior training would favor simians over strepsirrhines. Second, individual ring-tailed lemurs accustomed to living in a troop may not respond well to isolation for laboratory testing. Past studies have reported hysterical behaviour in such scenarios.[47] As a result of these early studies lemurs were often omitted from further research.

The notion that lemurs are unintelligent has been perpetuated by the view that the neocortex ratio (as a measure of brain size) indicates intelligence.[48] In fact, primatologist Alison Jolly noted early in her academic career that some lemur species, such as the ring-tailed lemur, have evolved a social complexity similar to that of cercopithecine monkeys, but not the corresponding intelligence.[49] After years of observations of wild ring-tailed lemur populations at the Berenty Reserve in Madagascar and as well as baboons in Africa, she more recently concluded that this highly social lemur species does not demonstrate the equivalent social complexity of cercopithecine monkeys, despite general appearances.[50]


More recently, research at the Duke Lemur Center has shown that the ring-tailed lemur can organize sequences in memory and retrieve ordered sequences without language.[51] The experimental design demonstrated that the lemurs were using internal representation of the sequence to guide their responses and not simply following a trained sequence, where one item in the sequence cues the selection of the next.[51] But this is not the limit of the ring-tailed lemur's reasoning skills. Another study, performed at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve, suggests that this species along with several other closely related lemur species understand simple arithmetic operations.[52]


Conservation status

In addition to being listed as Near Threatened in 2008 by the IUCN,[2] the ring-tailed lemur has been listed since 1977 by CITES under Appendix I,[3] which makes trade of wild-caught specimens illegal. Although there are more endangered species of lemur, the ring-tailed lemur is considered a flagship species due to its recognizability.[54]





Ring-tailed lemur populations can also benefit from drought intervention, due to the availability of watering troughs and introduced fruit trees, as seen at the Berenty Private Reserve in southern Madagascar.[54] However, these interventions are not always seen favorably, since natural population fluctuations are not permitted. The species is thought to have evolved its high fecundity due to its harsh environment;[54] therefore, interfering with this natural cycle could significantly impact the gene pool.

Cultural references

The ring-tailed lemur is known locally in Malagasy as maky (pronounced [ˈmakʲi̥], and spelled maki in French) or hira (pronounced [ˈhirə] or colloquially [ˈir]). Being the most widely recognized endemic primate on the island, it has been selected as the symbol for Madagascar National Parks (formerly known as ANGAP).[19] The Maki brand, which started by selling t-shirts in Madagascar and now sells clothing across the Indian Ocean islands, is named after the this lemur due to its popularity, despite the fact that the company's logo portrays the face of a sifaka and its name uses the French spelling.[56]


It has been popularized in Western culture by the Animal Planet television series Lemur Kingdom (United States) and Lemur Street (United Kingdom), as well as by the character King Julien in the animated Madagascar film series and spin-off TV series. Lemur Street depicts real events in the lives of wild ring-tailed lemurs, whereas the Madagascar films and spin-off series depict anthropomorphic representations, such as lemurs talking, singing, and dancing. The ring-tailed lemur was also the focus of the 1996 Nature documentary A Lemur's Tale, which was filmed at the Berenty Reserve and followed a troop of lemurs. The troop included a special infant named Sapphire, who was nearly albino, with white fur, bright blue eyes, and the characteristic ringed tail.

This species also played a role in the 1997 comedy film Fierce Creatures, starring John Cleese, who has a passion for lemurs.[57][58] Cleese later hosted the 1998 BBC documentary In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese, which tracked the progress of a reintroduction of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs back into the Betampona Reserve in Madagascar. The project had been partly funded by Cleese's donation of the proceeds from the London premier of Fierce Creatures.[58][59]


  2. ^ Type species was designated as Catta mococo (= Lemur catta Linnaeus, 1758).[5]
  3. ^ Type species was designated as Maki mococo (= Lemur catta Linnaeus, 1758).[5][6]
  4. ^ The synonym Mococo is sometimes omitted because it was technically a vernacular term for the genus Prosimia.[6] René Primevère Lesson named the type species for this genus as Prosimia catta (= Lemur catta Linnaeus, 1758) in the same year (1878).[5]
  5. ^ Muirhead (1819) credited the name Maki mococo to Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (1817), although it was actually used as a vernacular name.[5][6]


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Literature cited

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External links