Leaping Lemurs! It’s World Lemur Day!
Happy World Lemur Day! Every year on the last Friday of October we celebrate the lemurs of Madagascar. With their unique looks, incredible leaping power, and fluid movement through the trees, lemurs are definitely a sight to behold. Unfortunately, lemurs are the most threatened group of mammals on earth. Despite being one of Madagascar’s most iconic animals, over 90% of all lemur species are facing extinction, and that’s a lot considering there are over 100 lemur species living on the island.
So, why celebrate them exactly? Well, because they are important! Many plants and animals within Madagascar’s forests rely on lemurs for survival. Through seed dispersal and pollination, lemurs help to create and maintain the forests, which increases diversity and provides both food and shelter to the animals that live there.
Many species of lemurs love to eat fruit, but they cannot digest the seeds. As the lemurs movethroughout the forests, the seeds travel through their bodies until they eventually come out in the lemurs’poop! This creates a natural fertilizer for the seeds to grow in. Many lemurs also enjoy eating nectar. They’ll use their long narrow snouts and long tongues to eat the nectar without damaging the flowers. As they do this, the fur around their snouts and cheeks collect pollen. They can then transfer that pollen to other plants helping to pollinate them!
We have a few lemurs that call the Lehigh Valley Zoo home. Let’s, meet them! First up, we have our mongoose lemurs: Abby and Mico. Abby is our female and Mico is our male. You can tell them apart by looking at the color of their cheeks – Mico has red on his cheeks and “beard”! Abby has come out of her shell a lot since being here at the zoo. At first, she was hesitant and always let Mico do things first, but now she knows what she wants and isn’t shy about saying when she wants it. Mico is incredibly inquisitive. He enjoys investigating things and figuring out the various spots keepers may have left food. He is also quite smart and has picked up on training very quickly.
I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about lemurs and getting the chance to meet our resident lemurs at the Lehigh Valley Zoo!
Written by Emily Granville
Education Specialist
Lehigh Valley Zoo | Schnecksville, PA
