The western lesser bamboo lemur (''Hapalemur occidentalis''), also known as the northern bamboo lemur, western gentle lemur, or Sambirano lesser bamboo lemur, is a species of

bamboo lemur The bamboo lemurs or gentle lemurs are the lemurs in genus ''Hapalemur''. These medium-sized primates live exclusively on Madagascar. Etymology Bamboo lemurs were first described by French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1851. Compar ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

Description

The total length of this

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

is , more than half of which is tail, and average weight is just under .

Distribution

It lives in several discontinuous areas in northern and western Madagascar including

Ankarana Ankarana Special Reserve in northern Madagascar was created in 1956. It is a small, partially vegetated plateau composed of 150-million-year-old middle Jurassic limestone. With an average annual rainfall of about , the underlying rocks have been e ...

and Analamerana in the north, Sambirano and the Ampasindava Peninsula in the north-west, and various areas in the west between the Mahavany and

Tsiribihina River The Tsiribihina is a river of western Madagascar. The main tributaries are the Mahajilo, Manandaza, Mania, and Sakeny rivers. Its basin has an area of 49,800 km2. 7,025 km2 is in the basin of the Sakeny River, 14,500 km2 in that of the Mahaj ...

s. This lemur has been reported from eight national parks (

, Baie de Baly, Mananara-Nord,

Marojejy Marojejy National Park () is a national park in the Sava region of northeastern Madagascar. It covers and is centered on the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain that rises to an elevation of . Access to the area around the massif was restricted ...

Masoala ''Masoala'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It contains the following species, both endemic to Madagascar:Jumelle, Henri Lucien. 1933. Annales du Musée Colonial de Marseille, sér. 5, 1(1): 8. * ''Masoala kona'' Beentje ...

, Sahamalaza-Iles Radama, Tsingy de Namoroka and Zahamena), two strict nature reserves (

Tsaratanana ''For other localities with the same name, see Tsaratanana (disambiguation)'' Tsaratanana is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Tsaratanana, which is a part of Betsiboka Region. The population of the ...

and Zahamena), and eight special reserves ( Ambatovaky, Analamerana, Anjanaharibe-Sud, Bemarivo, Kasijy,

Maningoza The Maningoza is a river in western Madagascar. It crosses the Maningoza Reserve and has its mouth into the Indian Ocean near Besalampy Besalampy is a rural municipality on the west coast of Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Besalampy, ...

Manongarivo Manongarivo Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the North-West of Madagascar in the region of Diana. Manongarivo is home to both the Sambirano mouse lemur and the Sambirano woolly lemur. Geography The reserve has a surface of 64,356 ha and is sit ...

, and

Marotandrano Marotandrano is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Mandritsara, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 11,000 in 2001 commune census. Primary ...

Ecology

Preferred habitat is dry deciduous forest and humid forest which have areas of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

and bamboo vines; but they can exist in stands of bamboo surrounded by rice fields and other agricultural land. Lives in groups of six individuals and tends to be active at night. Females have a gestation period of 137 to 140 days and give birth, usually to one infant, from October through to January. Food includes fruit,

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

flowers and bamboo. Bamboo species include ''

Dendrocalamus giganteus ''Dendrocalamus giganteus'', commonly known as giant bamboo, is a giant tropical and subtropical, dense-clumping species native to Southeast Asia. It is one of the largest bamboo species in the world. Description A very tall, large-culmed, grayi ...

'', '' Ochlandra capitata'' and ''

Phyllostachys aurea ''Phyllostachys aurea'' is a species of bamboo, and is of the 'running bamboo' type, belonging to the diverse Bambuseae tribe. It is native to Fujian and Zhejiang in China. It is commonly known by the names fishpole bamboo, golden bamboo, monk's ...

''. It co-exists with other species of lemurs.

Status

This species is listed by the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on Appendix 1 and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) categorise this species as vulnerable. As long as there is some bamboo, the western lesser bamboo lemur is able survive in a degraded habitat. Burning the forest for livestock pasture is the major concern for this species as well as charcoal production and mining in

. In

Makira The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. It is third most populous island after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020 ...

hunting with firearms, machetes and

slingshots A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the proj ...

occurs. There are eighteen individuals in European zoos.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q962570 Bamboo lemurs Mammals described in 1975 Endemic fauna of Madagascar Mammals of Madagascar Taxa named by Yves Rumpler