Jess+A

media type="custom" key="21320298"Explorer - Jess A

Classification
lemur catta

Kingdom: Animalia Phylun: Cordata Class: Mammaila Order: Primates Family:Lemuridae Genus:Lemur Species:l.catta

Appearance; Ring-tailed lemurs have black skin, mostly covered by grey fur. They also have patches of white fur on their faces, ears, and underbelly. Their long tails have a fur pattern of alternating black and white rings. They have bright yellow or amber eyes, surrounded by mask-like black skin. Their snouts are long and fox-like, with whiskers and a moist black nose. They have fingernails, toe nails and opposable thumbs, adaptaed for a life in the trees shared by many primates. They have a specialized tooth used for scraping during grooming. the avarage size ranges between 39-46cm and an avarage tail lenght of 56-63cm so with an avarage combined length of 95-110cm they are thought to be relitavly large lemurs, other mesurments include a hind foot mesurment of 102 and 113 mm, ear lenght of 40 and 48mm and a caranium lenght of 78-88mm.

Male: Male ring-tailed lemurs have darkly colored scent glands on the inside of their wrists with a spur-like fingernail, usually referred to as a horny spur, overlay on each. Males also have scent glands on their chests, just above the collarbone and close to the armpit and males are heavier than females.

Female: females are dominate in the group, adult females participate in the rasing of the offspring of the group,.but are genrally lighter than males.

Reproduction: Ring-tailed lemurs reach sexual maturity between 1 1/2 and 3 years of age. Mating usually takes place in the spring, with babies born around August and September after a gestation period of about 4 1/2 months. A female will usually give birth to one offspring, however twins are not that uncommon if food is plentiful. A mother lemur will carry her babies in her mouth until they are old enough to cling to her back.

Vocal comunication //infant contact calls:// this sound consists of a soft purr. //cohesion call:// this is used when the group is widely dispersed and sounds like a cat's meow. //territorial call:// this call sounds like a howl, and may be heard for up to a kilometer. //alarm call:// this call starts out as a grunt then becomes a bark. //repulsion call:// this call is a series of staccato grunts sounds, and occurs between two individuals.

Social Systems: As with most lemurs female socially dominate males in all circumstances inclueding feeding priority, domanince is inforced by lungging chasing, cuffing, grabing and bitting.

fact file: One of the more interesting habits of ring-tailed lemurs is their love for sunbathing. A group will sit together facing the sun, sprawled on their backs with their arms spread at their side. It is believed that they do this to warm their underbellies, which have a thinner fur coat.



diet: The Ring-tailed Lemur is an opportunistic omnivore primarily eating fruits and leaves, particularly those of the tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica), known natively as kily. When available, tamarind makes up as much as 50% of the diet, especially during the dry, winter season. The Ring-tailed Lemur eats from as many as three dozen different plant species, and its diet includes flowers, herbs, bark and sap. It has been observed eating decayed wood, earth, spider webs, insect cocoons, arthropods (spiders, caterpillars, cicadas and grasshoppers) and small vertebrates (birds and chameleons). During the dry season it becomes increasingly opportunistic. young lemurs being to eat solid food at about two months and are fully weened at the age of five months



habbitat: The Ring Tailed Lemurs are only found in the woodlands and forests of Madagasca.

young: for the first three weeks of there lives the mother is primarly the care giver of the infant, but it tolarent of other females in the group espesial the siblings of the infant and other mothers in the first day of life ringtailed lemurs cling to there mothers but by day three they are able to move morte activly on her body and can climb onto another female.By the age of one month, infant ring-tailed lemurs ride on and of their mothers and begin to explore their surroundings independently, spending about 16% of their time off of their mothers. At this age, they do not venture further than .5 m from their mothers. These short periods usually involve briefly hopping from her back onto the ground and immediately hopping back onto her. After three weeks, the time spent off of the mother continuously decreases such that by week 16, 85% of the infants time is spent independently exploring the environment, manipulating objects in the environment and learn skill like independent foraging. Because of the timing of births, there are many playmates within the group for infant ring-tailed lemurs. Social play with peers begins around week six and includes such behaviors as chasing, play biting, jumping on, and wrestling with one or more partners. As the infant matures, it spends less time nursing and more time foraging. Weaning begins at week eight. By week 16, infant ring-tailed lemurs only nurse about 8% of their total time.

Conclusion: I found the ring tailed lemur interesting because of its funny apearance and funny trait (sun bathing) the ring tailed lemur otherwise know as l.catta is an amazing subject animal and am very thankful of being able to right this wiki on it. (Go King Julian).




 * media type="custom" key="21306380" ||