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Range: Limited to the Masoala peninsula in northeastern
Madagascar
Habitat: primary and secondary rainforest
Listing: IUCN Critical; USFWS Endangered; CITES
Appendix I
Protected by Malagasy law
Diet: Primarily frugivorous with 75% of its
diet being fruit. The remaining items consist of leaves, nectar
and flowers.
MZG diet: browse biscuits, fruit and vegetables,
kale. Favored food items are grapes and figs
Behavior: Little is known of the Ruffed lemurs
as there are few field studies undertaken. This is mainly due
to their habit of staying in the high canopies of the forest.
They live in groups of 5 – 6 individuals. They occupy home
ranges around the largest fruiting trees.
Active mainly in morning and late afternoon/evening.
They are highly vocal using their calls to establish territories
and avoid direct confrontations.
Marking behavior is not very pronounced. The males have a throat
gland and tree trunks in the territory are sprayed with urine
or the animals will rub their posteriors against them.
Reproduction: Females construct nests of twigs,
leaves, mosses. They give birth to litters of 1 –5 infants
with the most common being twins or triplets after a gestation
period of 100 days. The young are “parked” in the
nest during the early stages of development. When they are carried,
it is in their mother’s mouth. After 20 – 25 days
the young are capable of leaving the nest and moving around independently.
They follow the mother around, the two regularly exchanging calls.
At 4 months, the young is as active and mobile as the adults.
Sexual maturity for the female is 3 years.
Social Life: The Red Ruffed lemur occurs at
low densities and is rare throughout its range. They are particularly
susceptible to habitat disturbances, linked to high dependence
on the large fruiting trees in the primary forests
Ruffed lemurs enjoy sunbathing by stretching out their legs and
facing the sun. For the natives, this was formerly a reason to
regard the “varikandanas” as sacred animals, worshipping
the Sun. This belief, which preserved the ruffed lemurs from persecution
for centuries, has died out. Now they are being eliminated by
habitat destruction and persecution by humans.
Interesting Facts: The Ruffed lemur is the largest
member of the Lemuridae family. It is the most frugivorous
Malagasy names for this subspecies are varignena and varimena
Ruffed lemurs can live to 19 years of age in captivity
MZG Animals: One female and three males. The
female was born at the LA Zoo in April 1987. The males are brothers
and were all born at Duke University Primate Center in North Carolina.
They are exhibited with a group of Ring-tailed lemurs in the
Madagascar Lemur exhibit.
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