The eastern woolly lemur (''Avahi laniger''), also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

woolly lemur The woolly lemurs, also known as avahis or woolly indris, are nine species of strepsirrhine primates in the genus ''Avahi''. Like all other lemurs, they live only on the island of Madagascar. With a body size of and a weight of , the woolly lem ...

native to eastern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern coast of the island or they can also inhabit the northern tip of the island with other species. The woolly lemur name refers to their thick, tightly curled hair, whereas their generic name avahi refers to their high-pitched defensive call. The eastern woolly lemur almost has an owl-look with its large eyes, small rounded head, and ears that are mostly hidden. This

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

animal weighs and reaches a length of with a tail of . Its diet consists mainly of leaves and buds with fruits, flowers, and bark. Eastern woolly lemurs live in monogamous pairs together with their offspring. The eastern woolly lemur's breeding season ranges from March to May with the baby lemurs being born around August to September. Other lemur species that live in the same rainforests as eastern woolly lemur are the

diademed sifaka The diademed sifaka (''Propithecus diadema''), or diademed simpona, is an endangered species of sifaka, one of the lemurs endemic to certain rainforests in eastern Madagascar. Along with the indri, this species is one of the two largest living l ...

(''Propithecus diadema'') and the

red-bellied lemur The red-bellied lemur (''Eulemur rubriventer'') is a medium-sized strepsirrhine primate with a luxuriant chestnut brown coat. This lemur is endemic to eastern Madagascan rainforests and is distinguished by patches of white skin below the e ...

(''Eulemur rubriventer''). In southeastern rainforests, sympatric lemur species of ''A. meridionalis'' are the

brown mouse lemur The brown mouse lemur (''Microcebus rufus'') is a small primate, and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. They are known also as the rufous mouse lemur, eastern rufous mouse lemur, red mouse lemur, or russet ...

(''Microcebus rufus''), the

greater dwarf lemur The greater dwarf lemur (''Cheirogaleus major''), or the Geoffroy's dwarf lemur, is a lemur that is widely distributed over the primary and secondary forests near the eastern coast of Madagascar. They are also found in northern parts of Madagasca ...

(''Cheirogaleus major''), the

fat-tailed dwarf lemur The fat-tailed dwarf lemur (''Cheirogaleus medius''), also known as the lesser dwarf lemur, western fat-tailed dwarf lemur, or spiny forest dwarf lemur, is endemic to Madagascar. Hibernation Recent research has shown that ''C. medius'' hibernat ...

(''Cheirogaleus medius'') and the

collared brown lemur The collared brown lemur (''Eulemur collaris''), also known as the red-collared brown lemur or red-collared lemur, is a medium-sized strepsirrhine primate and one of twelve species of brown lemur in the family Lemuridae. It is only found in sout ...

(''Eulemur collaris'') in Sainte Luce Forest, and the

southern lesser bamboo lemur The southern lesser bamboo lemur (''Hapalemur meridionalis''), also known as the southern bamboo lemur, rusty-gray lesser bamboo lemur, and southern gentle lemur, is a species of bamboo lemur endemic to southern Madagascar. Taxonomy It was orig ...

(''Hapalemur meridionalis'') in Mandena Forest. According to one study, a male lemur rarely interacts with more than one other individual when sleeping, traveling or grooming. At night, he would spend about 40% of the time with his partner either grooming or resting. , the eastern woolly Llemur continues to exist; however, based on a 2000 study, the entire lemur population might be endangered if the forests continues to "disappear at a disastrous rate". This could be due to many reasons, for example

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

and forest degradation.

References

Woolly lemurs Mammals described in 1788 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Fauna of the Madagascar lowland forests {{lemur-stub