Ring-tailed lemurs – Madagascar’s most famous sons.

Hello again everyone! 

Before I start my next blog about the wonderful group of ring-lailed lemurs we have at Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park (BWCP), I would like to take a second to thank anyone who has taken their time to read either of the two blog entries before this one. Your support is greatly appreciated, I hope you all enjoyed finding out about our Alaotran gentle lemurs and the work done behind the scenes to conserve their species. 

Once again, I’ll start by introducing our group of ring-tails, before we delve into the conservation work being done around the world to help support the species. On the left of the first picture we have our female lemur - Matti. Matti was born here at Birmingham Wildlife Park on the 1st June 2014. She is a very friendly lemur, who will often jump onto your back or shoulder whilst you are taking out the food bowls for the group. With ring-tailed lemur’s being ruled by a matriarchal female, Matti is the leader of our group – something she occasionally has to remind the others of, come feeding time! Sitting just behind Matti, we have Dereck. Dereck is our male lemur, and was born at Chester Zoo on the 26th June 2017. He came to us on the 3rd May 2019 and is the father of our youngest two lemurs that we will meet shortly. Generally, at feeding time, Dereck seems to prefer keeping himself to himself. He will often hang back rather than jumping on your back like Matti, but is more than happy to take food from your hand if you do offer it to him. At the conservation park, Dereck is quite famous for his bold eyebrow markings, which make him easy to distinguish from the others. Please don’t worry, whilst he might look concerned or grumpy, I can assure you he is very well cared for and generally a happy soul! Moving onto the second picture, we have our pair of little lemur brothers. The pair were born at the conservation park last year - on the 5th May. Unfortunately, as we only found out their sex a short while ago, we haven’t settled on names for these little guys just yet and so we’ll have to keep referring to them as the brothers! Sadly, the mother of the two brothers passed away not too long after giving birth, but thankfully, Matti and Dereck have stepped up and are caring for them both.

In an effort to change things up slightly, I thought it might be interesting to talk a little about some of the interesting facts or behavioral traits our ring-tails may show. As mentioned above, ring-tailed lemur groups tend to be matriarchal, meaning that one-alpha female reigns supreme. In our group, this is Matti as she is currently our only adult female. Female ring-tails also take on the responsibility of the group over territorial confrontations in the wild, and can be seen facing up, alarm calling and even fighting members of the opposing group. Male ring-tailed lemurs are also known to take part in stink fights, which apart from having a brilliant name, are used to attract female mates and establish territories. Stink fights involve males rubbing their tail with the scent glands, found on the inside of their forearms, to cover them in a pungent smell. They then waft their tail around in the air to let anyone nearby know of their presence. Another interesting behavioral trait common in ring-tailed lemurs is sunbathing. Unlike us humans however, ring-tails sunbathe by sitting in a pose similar to that of ‘Buddha’ to open up their stomach area to the sun. The stomach area is covered in thinner white fur, meaning that by aiming it at the sun, the lemurs can warm up more quickly. In the picture below, you can see both Dereck and Matti sunbathing on their climbing frame. 

In terms of conservation, ring-tailed lemurs are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. However, a more recent inspection taken in 2017 estimated the wild population may have dropped below 2,000 individuals, which could lead to the species being moved to critically endangered in the near future. Population decline in the wild is often due to similar reasons to the Alaotran gentle lemurs, that we talked about in the last blog. Deforestation and the subsequent habitat loss are partially to blame, with 90% of the Madagascan island’s natural forest estimated to have been cut down by man. Hunting and poaching are the second reason, Madagascan locals are known to hunt ring-tails for bushmeat, fur clothing or to sell them in the exotic pet trade. Finally, periodic drought seasons in Madagascar are also known to have negatively impacted wild populations, with one reserve estimating they had lost 41% of their populations in two drought heavy years. Moving on from the doom and gloom, we will finish with a more positive discussion about some conservation projects helping to support ring-tails. The species is actually the centre of attention for a wide range of conservation projects, often being considered a flagship species due to their recognizability. Despite their struggles in the wild, ring-tailed lemurs are also the most abundant captive primate in zoos and conservation parks around the world, with as many as 2500 in captivity. Some of the most famous facilities involved in the ex-situ conservation of ring-tails include the Duke Lemur Centre in Durham, North Carolina and the Lemur Conservation Foundation based out of Myakka City, Florida. The Duke Lemur Centre houses the largest and most diverse collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar itself, with over 200 individuals across 14 species. They specialise in the study, protection and care of lemur species including ring-tails themselves. Across in Myakka City, Florida the Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) take part in both in-situ and ex-situ conservation of a wide variety of lemur species. At their Florida site, they use a managed breeding programme for 5 species (one of which are ring-tails) to ensure that lemurs have a genetic safety net, should wild populations fail. Their amazing work ensures that enough genetic diversity remains in captive populations, to re-establish wild populations should the need ever arise. In Madagascar, the LCF work with conservation partners and local communities at the Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve (just one of 7 reserves in Madagascar used to protect lemurs) to help protect ring-tails in their natural habitat and educate and support local communities. Forests are monitored to remove lemur bushmeat traps, field trips are funded for local schools to try and inspire Madagascar’s next generation of conservationists, and locals are upskilled in fishing to reduce the dependence on bushmeat. Finally, the LCF also helps to restore lemur habitats and provides water troughs and fresh fruit in times of drought, to combat all three of the main threats to lemurs in the wild. 

In all honesty, I am yet to decide which one of the conservation parks’ species to focus on next… Which would you like to see? Keep an eye on the blog page and my Twitter feed for the announcement! The next blog entry will then be posted shortly. As always, thanks for reading everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this installment from BWCP!