NL·0515Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Lemur catta
- Family
- Lemuridae
- Native to
- Southern and southwestern Madagascar
- Habitat
- Dry deciduous forest, Spiny forest, Gallery forest, Rocky canyons
Ring-tailed lemur
Lemur catta
Also calledMaky (Malagasy) · Hira (Malagasy) · Lémur catta (French) · Lémur de cola anillada (Spanish)
Madagascar's most familiar lemur, a sun-loving primate of dry forests and rocky canyons in the island's south and southwest. Troops are led by females, and males fight 'stink fights' by wiping their tails with scent and waving them at rivals. Although common in zoos, wild numbers have fallen steeply with forest loss and the pet trade.
The ring-tailed lemur is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families, and is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs, it is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is endangered. Known locally in Malagasy as maky or hira, it ranges from gallery forests to spiny scrub in the southern regions of the island. It is omnivorous, as well as the most adapted to living terrestrially of the extant lemurs. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iSunbathes in a 'yoga' posture, belly and arms open to the morning sun
- iiMales hold 'stink fights', anointing their tails with scent from wrist and chest glands
- iiiSpends more time on the ground than any other lemur
In the field
Field marks
- aLong black-and-white ringed tail (about 13 alternating black and white bands) held up like a flag when walking
- bGrey back and paler underside
- cWhite face with black eye-patches and a dark nose
- dSigns: troops on the ground and rocks; scent marks on saplings
- Voice
- Cat-like mews to keep contact, loud yelps and wails as alarm calls, and a purring 'contented' call.
- Not to be confused with
- No other lemur has a ringed tail. Brown and red-fronted lemurs are browner with plain tails.
- Where to see it
- Anja Community Reserve; Isalo National Park; Berenty Private Reserve; Andringitra National Park; Tsimanampesotse National Park (all Madagascar)
- When
- Resident; births in September–October, so young are seen clinging to mothers in spring
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Fruit (especially tamarind), leaves, flowers, bark, sap and insects
- Habitat
- Gallery forest along rivers, dry scrub, spiny forest and rocky outcrops
- Size
- Body about 40 cm, tail 55–62 cm; 2.2 kg
- Lifespan
- About 16–19 years in the wild
Lives in troops of up to about 30 with female dominance. Troop members huddle in 'lemur balls' to keep warm on cold nights.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Southern and southwestern Madagascar
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Woodcuts and engravings matched from the Source Library’s scanned books by name. Plates marked “relative” show a close kin rather than this exact species. Click a plate to read the page it came from, with translation.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Lemur catta in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
Many Malagasy communities hold fady (taboos) against harming lemurs, and in Anja the community-run reserve has turned the species into a source of tourism income. Linnaeus described it in 1758 as the type of the genus Lemur, after the Roman spirits of the dead (lemures).
Curiosity
Surveys published in 2016–2017 counted only about 2,000–2,400 ring-tailed lemurs at the sites studied, raising fears the wild population had crashed; the true total is debated because many sites remain unsurveyed.
Kinship
Fact-checked: 2 corrections made to this sheet. Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 43617.