lemur

Lemur

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and squirrel monkeys, lemurs, dolphins, elephants, birds, salamanders and fish. Recently, researchers from Oakland University in Michigan added black bears to the list of the numerically skilled.

such as the giant tortoises of the Galapagos, the lemurs of Madagascar or the koalas of Australia.

such as the lemur sanctuary in the Caribbean that Virgin boss Richard Branson proposed last year.

'Similar practices have been observed among gorillas, baboons, macaques, lemurs, and geladas. Elephants, dolphins, and chimpanzees all have complex social behaviours that we only partly understand.

Lemurs Since humans arrived in Madagascar about 2000 years ago about 15 to 20 species of lemurs primates with foxlike faces have gone extinct likely due to habitat loss

Humans are cutting down the lemurs'habitat at much faster pace now. As Malagasy human populations rise they threaten the remaining species of lemurs

and thousands of other endemic species with extinction at an accelerating rate Garber said. Â Currently 93 lemur species are endangered critically endangered

or threatened mostly due to the clearing of the island's forests according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) a global environmental organization that's 91 percent of all lemur species for

which data is available. Sharks About 100 million sharks are killed each year to be made into shark fin soup a Chinese delicacy.

#Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate Like Bears The western fat-tailed dwarf lemur was the only primate thought to be a hibernator.

Now scientists have discovered that two other lemurs in Madagascar can put their lives on pause too by entering seven-month snoozefests.

as if the animals are dead researcher Anne Yoder director of the Duke Lemur Center said of the two species Crossley's dwarf lemur and Sibree's dwarf lemur.

Yoder and colleagues captured several of the lemurs and outfitted them with temperature-sensitive radio collars before they were released.

The team found that the lemurs take different sleep strategies depending on which part of Madagascar they live.

Meanwhile western dwarf lemurs hide out in drafty tree holes where their body temperature fluctuates with the chancing temperature of the outside air the scientists found.

The researchers suspect these clawless lemurs might make do with trees because they simply can't bury themselves safely in western Madagascar's hard and dry soils;

what triggers hibernation in these lemurs. The burrowing behavior is especially weird to see in a tropical forest;

But winters in the eastern forests of Madagascar present their own energetic challenges for lemurs.

And high-quality fruits a crucial part of dwarf lemur diets are scarce during this time. Beyond finding surprising similarities with other mammals that spend their winters snoozing it's exciting to think about lemur hibernation

since the animals are closely related to humans. Studying how the lemurs'pause button works may help scientists investigate the possibility of inducing human hibernation (think 2001:

A Space Odyssey. The research was detailed May 2 in the journal Scientific Reports. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.

Dozens of species disappeared altogether including 17 giant lemurs three pygmy hippopotamuses two aardvarklike mammals a giant fossa (a catlike carnivore) eight elephant birds a giant crocodile and two giant tortoises.

#Lemurs Snooze in Caves Like Early Humans Some of Madagascar's ring-tailed lemurs head to bed in caves every night new research finds.

although lemurs and humans aren't particularly closely related as far as primates go there is something in deep primate history that makes caves appealing possibly protection from predators said study researcher Michelle Sauther an anthropologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

We think cave-sleeping is something ring-tailed lemurs have been doing for a long time Sauther said in a statement.

Lemurs are found only on Madagascar and they typically sleep in trees. Sauther and her colleagues found that ring-tailed lemurs in Tsimanampesotse National park

and the Tsinjoriake Protected Area in southwestern Madagascar were doing something quite different. They seemed to come out of nowhere

See Video of the Lemurs and their Caves The researchers observed the lemurs between 2006 and 2013 using field observations

and motion-sensing cameras. The cave-sleeping may be related to a unique feature of this environment the spiny forest.

In areas where lemurs sleep in trees the branches are high off the ground and form a safe canopy.

Regular quarters The ring-tailed lemur's nemesis is the fossa a catlike mammal also found only in Madagascar.

An ancestral fossa that went extinct only a few thousand years ago likely also would have preyed on lemurs

Â The remarkable thing about our study was that over a six-year period the same troops of ring-tailed lemurs used the same sleeping caves on a regular daily basis Sauther said.

I want to climb with the lemurs. I'm fascinated with the primates in Madagascar and would love to get up there

This wonderland of wildlife east of Africa is home to all of the world's lemurs a diverse group of primates most

Lemurs descend from animals that arrived on the isolated island between 50 million and 60 million years ago.

Since humans arrived about 15 to 20 of these lemur species have gone extinct likely due to habitat loss

As Malagasy populations rise humans threaten the remaining species of lemurs and thousands of other species with extinction at an accelerating rate said University of Illinois primatologist Paul Garber.

Currently 93 lemur species are endangered critically endangered or threatened mostly due to the clearing of the island's forests according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) a global environmental organization.

That's 91 percent of all lemur species for which data is available. Deforestation has sped up in the second half of the 20th century

Since the breakdown of civil order following a 2009 coup in the country species such as collared lemurs have been taken from forests to be sold in the illegal pet trade

Â The plight of Madagascar's lemurs is just one example of how a rising population of humans is contributing to the sixth-largest mass extinction in the history of the planet most biologists say.

Some of Earth's most iconic animals like the lemurs are threatened with habitat loss displaced by growing human populations and increased demand for agricultural products.

Jakob Krieger University of Greifswald) Aye-aye Aye-ayes are nocturnal lemurs native to Madagascar. With their incredibly long fingers staring eyes

and batlike ears aye-ayes could easily frighten someone who stumbles across them in the dark.

or fear these nocturnal lemurs as omens of bad luck. But these creatures are completely harmless to humans.

when encountering a human said Charles Welch the conservation coordinator at the Duke Lemur Center.

See more images of aye-ayes Aye-ayes are extraordinary examples of evolution at its weirdest and maybe its best said Chris Smith an educational specialist at the Duke Lemur Center.

Aye-ayes tap along branches actually building mental maps of the hollow tunnels they find. They chisel a hole into the bark to reach inside with their thin flexible middle finger and extract beetle larvae.

so they aren't as harmless as camel crickets or aye-ayes. Still Evangelista argues that American

The problem with just looking at the number of hectares involved is that this simplistic measure reveals nothing about the true benefits of the offset how the project helps to conserve Madagascar s lemurs plants

#New Action Plan to Save Madagascar's At-Risk Lemurs (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.

Contrary to the film of Dreamworks'imagining Madagascar is ruled not by King Julien and his colony of lemurs.

In fact the status of the lemurs on the island the only place on earth that they exist is a very precarious one.

To try to reverse the frightening fact that 94%of lemur species are under threat myself

and lemur experts around the world have issued a renewed action plan for their conservation. We highlight three key ways to save lemurs:

community-based conservation management the long-term presence of researchers at field sites and ecotourism. While the action plan separately identifies these three areas they do not exist independently of each other.

Madagascar s political problems have helped make lemur species the most endangered group of mammals on the planet.

There are currently 106 species of lemurs in Madagascar (new species continue to be discovered) and their natural forest habitats especially suffered from this political turmoil.

Increased banditry illegal logging in national parks and nature reserves and a sharp increase in the hunting of lemurs as bush meat#has left them facing extinction.

Ecotourism can allow rural communities in Madagascar to earn revenue for protecting lemur habitats; create economic incentives and benefits for local residents;

While Madagascar is one of the world s top biodiversity hotspots lemurs easily represent the country s brand#for drawing ecotourists.

One success story that can serve as a model for promoting lemur and forest conservation at other sites across Madagascar is centred on Maromizaha Forest in the eastern part of the island.

This vast forest is rich in biodiversity including no fewer than 13 lemur species. With good transport links to the capital

It is actually a combination of 30 action plans each targeting different sites of importance for lemur conservation.

Ecotourism driven by lemurs along with research inspired by them would contribute significantly to that cost. Ian Colquhoun does not work for consult to own shares in

#Lemur Lady Campaigns for Endangered Lemurs This Sciencelives article was provided to Live Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

and conservationist devoted to saving lemurs. Lemurs are a primate found naturally only in Madagascar the world s fourth largest island located about 250 miles off the coast of southern Africa.

One of the World s Most Endangered Primates In 2012 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature described 91 percent of the 103 known species and subspecies of lemurs as threatened with extinction;

this is one of the highest levels of threat ever recorded for a group of mammals.

Multifaceted Approaches A professor at Stony Brook University Wright approaches to saving Madagascar s lemurs and their forest habitat involves combining science and conservation.

and 12 lemur species. In addition Wright is the founder of the Centre Valbio Research Station located on the edge of the Park.

Three days later Wright#ccompanied by several lemurs#ang the New york stock exchange s Closing Bell. Along with gaggles of jumping and leaping lemurs#right is featured in the new IMAX film Island of Lemurs:

Madagascar which is currently playing throughout the U s. Also Wright recently described her early research on owl monkeys

and flying lemurs are equally closely related to primates, which include humans. Genetic studies had suggested that flying lemurs were related most closely.

The placental tree also shows that the Afrotheria, the group of African mammals that includes elephants

In addition to detailing the fossil finds the study compared 173 skeletal characteristics of plesiadapiforms primates tree shrews and flying lemurs in hopes of unveiling their evolutionary links...

and bushbabies have relatively huge eyes compared to their small heads so these critters'eyes might not look so beady except by comparison.

Benner and his colleagues looked at the DNA stretches responsible for ADH4 in 27 modern primates Using lemurs monkeys apes

#First evidence of primates regularly sleeping in cavesscientists have discovered that some ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar regularly retire to limestone chambers for their nightly snoozes the first evidence of the consistent daily use of the same caves and crevices for sleeping among the world's wild primates.

The ring-tailed lemurs may be opting to sleep in caves for several reasons said University of Colorado Boulder anthropology Associate professor Michelle Sauther who led the study.

or hot weather and provide refuge from encroaching human activities like deforestation she said The remarkable thing about our study was that over a six-year period the same troops of ring-tailed lemurs used the same sleeping caves on a regular daily basis

Although sleeping in caves by ring-tailed lemurs--which are found only in Madagascar--has likely been going on for millennia it is only now being recognized as a regular behavior said Sauther.

Ring-tailed lemurs are identified easily by their characteristic black and white ringed tails which can be twice as long as their bodies.

Sporting fox-like snouts and slender frames they are unusual among lemurs spending a considerable amount of time on the ground feeding on leaves

In gallery forests near rivers ring-tailed lemurs regularly sleep high in the canopies of tall trees.

The lemur observations were made at the 104000-acre Tsimanampesotse National park and the Tsinjoriake Protected Area in southwestern Madagascar between 2006 and this year.

The research team used field observations and motion-detector camera traps to chart the behavior and movements of 11 different troops of ring-tailed lemurs.

One of the early clues to the cave sleeping by the lemurs was their presence on limestone cliffs adjacent to spiny forest trees

The primary predator of the lemurs is a catlike carnivorous mammal called a fossa native only to Madagascar that is closely related to the mongoose

Fossil evidence shows a cougar-sized relative of the fossa that only became extinct several thousand years ago likely preyed on lemurs as well she said.

We think cave-sleeping is something ring-tailed lemurs have been doing for a long time she said. The behavior may be characteristic of a deep primate heritage that goes back millions of years.

Sauther co-directs the Beza Mahafalay Lemur Biology Project in southwestern Madagascar with Cuozzo a former CU-Boulder doctoral student.

Centered at the roughly 1500-acre Beza Mahafalay Special Reserve the research focuses on how climate-and human-induced change affects lemur biology behavior and survival.

I never thought I would have a chance as a CU undergraduate to conduct research in an exotic place like Madagascar said former UROP student Anthony Massaro who was part of a team that trapped ring-tailed lemurs measured their physical characteristics including dentition

Ring-tailed lemurs are listed now as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission.

Today she has several CU-Boulder doctoral students working with her including James Millette who is studying how the tooth wear of lemurs relates to their foraging behaviors.

because without the support of these people there would be no lemur conservation. We consider Beza where we have been working with the community for several decades to be a real success story.

which contains an estimated one percent of the world's biodiversity including 20 lemur species hundreds of species of birds

#Lemur lookalikes are two new species, DNA saysscientists have identified two new species of mouse lemur the saucer-eyed teacup-sized primates native to the African island of Madagascar.

The new study brings the number of recognized mouse lemur species to 20 making them the most diverse group of lemurs known.

But because these shy nocturnal primates look so much alike it's only possible to tell them apart with genetic sequencing.

The researchers named one of the new species the Anosy mouse lemur or Microcebus tanosi.

Anosy mouse lemurs are close neighbors with grey mouse lemurs and grey-brown mouse lemurs but the genetic data indicate they don't interbreed.

The researchers named the other new species the Marohita mouse lemur or Microcebus marohita after the forest where it was found.

In Malagasy the word marohita means many views. Despite its species'name this mouse lemur is threatened by ongoing habitat destruction

and'many views'of its members are unlikely the researchers write. The two new species were captured first by co-author Rodin Rasoloarison of the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar during trips to the eastern part of the country in 2003 and 2007.

and Dave Weisrock both at Duke university at the time analyzed two mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA genes to figure out where the animals fit into the lemur family tree.

During a 2012 return trip to the forest where the Marohita mouse lemur lives Rasoloarison discovered that much of the lemur's forest home had been cleared since his first visit in 2003.

The state of the lemur's habitat prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify the new species as endangered even before it was described formally.

This species is a prime example of the current state of many other lemur species Kappeler said.

Mouse lemurs have lived in Madagascar for 7 to 10 million years. But since humans arrived on the island some 2500 years ago logging

which makes lemurs the most endangered mammals in the world according to the IUCN. Knowing exactly how many species we have is essential for determining

A better understanding of mouse lemur diversity could help humans too. Mouse lemurs are a closer genetic match to humans than mice and rats the most common lab animals.

At least one species--the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus)--develops a neurological disease that is strikingly similar to human Alzheimer's so the animals are considered important models for understanding the aging brain.

But before we can say whether a particular genetic variant in mouse lemurs is associated with Alzheimer's we need to know

whether that variant is specific to all mouse lemurs or just select species said Lemur Center Director Anne Yoder.

Every new mouse lemur species that we sample in the wild will help researchers put the genetic diversity we see in grey mouse lemurs in a broader context she said.

Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Duke university. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

#Research provides clues to alcohol addiction vulnerabilitya Wake Forest Baptist Medical center team studying alcohol addiction has new research that might shed light on why some drinkers are more susceptible to addiction than others.

and fossil primates including lemurs monkeys and humans as well as their closest living relatives flying lemurs and tree shrews.

and one fossil species from the clade Euarchonta which includes primates tree shrews and flying lemurs. I think this database is amazing

#Parasites of Madagascars lemurs expanding with climate changerising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in Madagascar could fuel the spread of lemur parasites

and the diseases they carry. By combining data on six parasite species from ongoing surveys of lemur health with weather data and other environmental information for Madagascar as a whole a team of Duke university researchers has created probability

maps of likely parasite distributions throughout the island today. Then using climate projections for the year 2080 they estimate what parasite distributions might look like in the future.

We can use these models to figure out where the risk of lemur-human disease transmission might be highest

and use that to better protect the future of lemur and human health said lead author Meredith Barrett who conducted the study while working as a graduate student at Duke.

Lemurs are native to the African island of Madagascar where climate change isn't the only threat to their survival.

More than 90 percent of the lemurs'forest habitat has already been cleared for logging farming and grazing.

what these changes could mean for lemur health by taking a cue from the parasites they carry.

and intestinal worms commonly known to infect lemurs. The parasites are identified in lemur fur and feces.

Some species--such as pinworms whipworms and tapeworms--cause diarrhea dehydration and weight loss in human hosts.

When the researchers compared their present-day maps with parasite distributions predicted for the future they found that lemur parasites could expand their range by as much as 60 percent.

Anne Yoder senior author on the study and Director of the Duke Lemur Center said the research is particularly important now as lemurs have been identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the most endangered mammals on earth.

As lemur parasites become more prevalent the diseases they carry could show up in new places.

The spread could be harmful to lemur populations that have encountered never these pests before and lack resistance to the diseases they carry.

and lemurs to ants use various parts of their bodies to avoid hard landings on the ground.

#Fruit-loving lemurs score higher on spatial memory testsfood-finding tests in five lemur species show that fruit-eaters may have better spatial memory than lemurs with a more varied diet.

and Kerri Rodriguez and Brian Hare of Duke compared spatial memory skills across five species of lemurs living in captivity at the Duke Lemur Center--fruit-eating red-ruffed

and black-and-white ruffed lemurs leaf-eating Coquerel's sifakas and ring-tailed and mongoose lemurs that eat a mix of fruit leaves seeds flowers nectar and insects.

A total of 64 animals took part in the studies which measured their ability to remember the locations of food treats in mazes and boxes.

In the first experiment the lemurs learned the location of food hidden in one of two arms of A t-shaped maze.

A week later the fruit-eating ruffed lemurs were the only species able to retain and recall the right spot.

whether the lemurs were recalling the exact spot or just remembering the turns they took along the way First the lemurs learned how to find a piece of food hidden in one wing of a symmetrical cross-shaped maze.

Ten minutes later the lemurs were moved to a new starting position in the maze and released to find their way again.

The ruffed lemurs were most likely to set off again to the right spot in the cross-maze

even though they had to take new turns to get there. Before they might have turned right

The results suggest that ruffed lemurs primarily rely on a memory of the place rather than a memory of what turns they took.

The other species showed a mix of both strategies Finally to better reflect the situations lemurs face

when foraging in the wild a third experiment tested the lemurs'ability to remember multiple locations.

In the initial session a lemur was allowed to explore a room containing eight open boxes each marked with a distinct visual cue.

After the lemur learned which boxes contained food and which didn't all eight boxes were baited with food

Ten minutes later when each lemur searched the room again only the ruffed lemurs preferentially searched spots where they found food before.

In their native Madagascar ruffed lemurs'diets can exceed 90%fruit--especially figs. Remembering when and where to find food from one season to the next requires keen spatial skills and good powers of recall.

And ring-tailed lemurs and mongoose lemurs--who finished in second and third place in many of the memory tests--can grab a snack pretty much anywhere anytime Rosati explained.

The researchers point out that the most social species in this study--the ring-tailed lemurs--fell in the middle of the pack in terms of spatial memory skills.

Makira contains an estimated one percent of the world's biodiversity including 20 lemur species hundreds of species of birds