Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The indri is a vertical clinger and leaper and thus holds its body upright when traveling through trees or resting in branches. It has long, muscular legs which it uses to propel itself from trunk to trunk. Its large greenish eyes and black face are framed by round, fuzzy ears. Unlike any other living lemur, the indri has only a rudimentary tail.
At least 17 species and eight genera are believed to have become extinct in the 2,000 years since humans first arrived in Madagascar. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] All known extinct species were large, ranging in weight from 10 to 200 kg (22 to 441 lb).
All 17 extinct lemurs were larger than the extant (living) forms, some weighing as much as 200 kg (440 lb), [7] and are thought to have been active during the day. [38] Not only were they unlike the living lemurs in both size and appearance, they also filled ecological niches that either no longer exist or are now left unoccupied. [29]
They have fewer premolar teeth than other lemurs, with the dental formula of: 2.1.2.3 2.1.2.3 Females and males usually mate monogamously for many years. Mostly at the end of the dry season, their four- to five-month gestation ends with the birth of a single offspring, which lives in the family for a while after its weaning (at the age of five ...
Male lemurs are competitive to win their mates which causes instability among the other organisms. Lemurs are able to mark their territory by using scents from local areas. [11] A number of lemur species are considered threatened; two species are critically endangered, one species is endangered, and five species are rated as vulnerable.
Archaeoindris fontoynontii is an extinct giant lemur and the largest primate known to have evolved on Madagascar, comparable in size to a male gorilla.It belonged to a family of extinct lemurs known as "sloth lemurs" (Palaeopropithecidae) and, because of its extremely large size, it has been compared to the ground sloths that once roamed North and South America.
All 17 extinct lemurs were larger than the extant forms, some weighing as much as 200 kg (440 lb), [41] and are thought to have been active during the day. [66] Not only were they unlike the living lemurs in both size and appearance, they also filled ecological niches that no longer exist or are now left unoccupied. [ 25 ]
Megaladapis, informally known as the koala lemur, [1] [2] is an extinct genus of lemurs belonging to the family Megaladapidae, consisting of three species that once inhabited the island of Madagascar. The largest measured between 1.3 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) in length.