The ring-tailed lemur

The ring-tailed lemur lives in groups of around twenty individuals led, as with most lemurs, by a dominant adult female. She guides the troop when they move around and is the first to access food. Their diet is varied and depends on the season: flowers and fruit, young leaves, exudates, insects of all kinds, spiders and their webs, succulent plants in the dry season, etc.

Births occur almost all at the same time, when food resources are most abundant. From the age of three days, the young, which until then had been clinging to its mother's belly, is able to climb onto her back or onto the back of another female nearby..

Although an excellent climber and jumper, the ring-tailed lemur is the most terrestrial of the lemurs. It moves on all fours, its long ringed tail raised above it, serving as a landmark for all members of the group. Communication is not only visual but also vocal, and the repertoire of calls is rich, ranging from meows to growls. Marking plays an essential role in defining territory. While all adults mark with urine or faeces, only males have scent glands on their wrists and chest, which they use to mark various surfaces as they pass by. They even impregnate their tails with it, which they wave rhythmically above their heads when facing a rival to "project" their scent. At the end of this duel, the most "embarrassed" one leaves...

It is estimated that their population has declined by 30% to 50% in thirty years. The main causes are hunting, fragmentation of their forest habitat and illegal capture.

Lemurs are the emblem of the awareness and fundraising campaign led by zoological institutions for the protection of Madagascar's wildlife. This campaign has helped fund numerous conservation initiatives across the island.