Creature Feature: Silky Simpona.

Y'know what this blog needs? More lemurs. They're primates, but so weird that it's hard to tell. Insular isolation has made them rather unique by primate standards. They still have muzzles, for instance...not that it makes them any less cute. Fuzzy is still fuzzy.

From Cactus Juice.

Is there anything weirder than a white lemur? Yes: a whole species of white lemurs. This particular lemur, the silky sifaka/simpona (Propithecus candidus), is almost entirely white. Like all lemurs, it can only be found on the African island of Madagascar, which is like Australia's little cousin in terms of how weird wildlife can get. It is wholly herbivorous.

Simponas have several different vocalizations. Their weirdest one by far is a "zzuss" sneeze. The "zzuss" is a general alarm call. It can also be used to locate other simponas that have strayed from the large group. Simponas also "roar," chatter, squeal, and hum. They are social to the point where most mature simponas take care of the babies, so of course they have a lot to chat about.

Dr. Erik Patel with a silky. Lucky guy!

This lemur is rare. It is considered one of the rarest mammals in the entire world and is definitely in the top 25 most endangered primates. This is largely because it is the primate that gets laid the least; unlike most animals which have a mating season, female simponas only mate one day a year, usually in December or January.  They give birth only once every year, if not once every two years. Oh, and deforestation doesn't help. There is also nothing stopping people from eating these lemurs. This is one of those species that will probably go extinct within the next ten years, so enjoy it while you can.

Insular species are always more vulnerable to extinction, but the simpona is an extreme example. A low breeding rate combined with habitat destruction and human predation make it one of the rarest mammals on Earth. They are already called "ghosts of the forest" because of their scarcity and white coloration. There may be fewer than 1,000 left. All animals are important; it helps that this one is cute.

Creature Feature: Ringtail Lemur.

Madagascar Week would not be complete without a look at the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta). Common though they are as the poster-children of Madagascar, they are still weird in their own right.


These lemurs are particularly eccentric.

At first glance, these primates look similar to raccoons with very, very long tails. These long tails have a number of uses, from group communication to scenting. Scenting is more important for these lemurs than it is for predominantly-visual humans; these creatures even get involved in stink fights.

Ring-tailed lemurs are some of the most vocal primates around. They purr like cats mixed with a starting lawnmower when content; they make crazy clicks before shrieking when ganging up on a predator; they moan in a way that would make one classify them as ghosts, albeit comical ones.


Imagine this in one of those 'moo' toys. That's what the lemur sounds like.

Interestingly (and men, you can probably blame this on insular isolation), most lemurs, these guys included, have dominant females. Ladies get the first picks of food and therefore almost everything else. Somehow, they still wind up polygynous during mating time; humans have a loooong way to go when it comes to that level of understanding in relationships.

Despite not flaunting the tool-using skills key to the identification of primate intelligence in the wild, lemurs have proven surprisingly capable on other levels. They can select tools based on their functions, predict sequences and do simple mathematics. Hey, that's more than some humans can do.


They have also hacked the Matrix.

(Again, this was one of the harder ones for me to write about...)