Lemur Facts

About the lemur

Around 100 living species fill eight families and 15 genera. They look like other primates but evolved separately from monkeys and apes, and Madagascar's strongly seasonal climate drove a burst of variety. Sizes range from the 30-gram mouse lemur to the 9-kilogram indri. Since humans arrived about 2,000 years ago, more than a dozen giant lemur species have died out, including the gorilla-sized Archaeoindris.

Most lemurs live in trees, and many are active at night. They are the most social strepsirrhine primates, living in troops and communicating more with scent and sound than with visual signals. A low metabolism means some go dormant. Females usually dominate, and breeding is seasonal. Most eat many kinds of fruit and leaves, and different diets let two species share a forest.

Did you know?

• The name lemur comes from a Latin word meaning ghosts or spirits of the dead.
• Most lemurs have nails instead of claws on their fingers and toes.
• Lemurs have a smaller brain-to-body size ratio than monkeys and apes.