The woolly lemurs, also known as avahis or woolly indris, are nine species of

strepsirrhine Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (; ) is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and southeast Asia. Collec ...

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 ...

s in the genus ''Avahi''. Like all other

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 exist ...

s, they live only on the island of

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 ...

. With a body size of and a weight of , the woolly lemurs are the smallest

indriid The Indriidae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Indridae) are a family of strepsirrhine primates. They are medium- to large-sized lemurs, with only four teeth in the toothcomb instead of the usual six. Indriids, like all lemurs, live exclusively on t ...

s. Their fur is short and woolly. The body can be grey brown to reddish, with white on the back of the thighs, with a long, orange tail. The head is round with a short muzzle and ears hidden in the fur. Woolly lemurs can be found in both humid and dry forests, spending most of their time in the leafy copse. Like many leafeaters, they need long naps to digest their food. Woolly lemurs live together in groups of two to five animals, which often consist of parents and several generations of their offspring. Like all indriids, the woolly lemurs are strictly

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

, eating predominantly leaves, but also buds and, rarely, flowers. Males and females live in pairs. Although likely, the presence of extrapair copulations (which exist in other pair-living nocturnal lemurs, e.g. the

Masoala fork-marked lemur The Masoala fork-marked lemur (''Phaner furcifer''), also known as the eastern fork-marked lemur or Masoala fork-crowned lemur, is a species of lemur found in the coastal forests of northeastern Madagascar. It is a small nocturnal animal with lar ...

(''Phaner furcifer'') and 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'')) has never been demonstrated in ''Avahi'' species. The gestation period is four to five months, with births usually coming in September. In the first few months, the young rides on the back of its mother. After about six months, it is

weaned Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or another mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk. The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk. The infan ...

, and can live independently after a year, although it will typically live for another year in proximity to its mother. Overall life expectancy is not known. On November 11, 2005, a research team that discovered a new species of woolly lemur in 1990 in western Madagascar named the species,

Bemaraha woolly lemur The Bemaraha woolly lemur (''Avahi cleesei''), also known as Cleese's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to western Madagascar, named after John Cleese. The first scientist to discover the species named it after Cleese, star of Mon ...

(''Avahi cleesei''), after actor

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

, in recognition of Cleese's work to save lemurs in the wild. In 2006, a taxonomic revision of eastern avahis based on genetic and morphological analyses led to the identification of two additional species: ''A. meridionalis'' and ''A. peyrierasi''. Further taxonomic revision increased the number of species, by adding ''A. ramanantsoavana'' and ''A. betsileo''. Finally a new species was discovered in the Masoala peninsula,

Moore's woolly lemur Moore's woolly lemur (''Avahi mooreorum''), or the Masoala woolly lemur, is a woolly lemur endemic to Madagascar. It has brown-grey fur and a reddish tail. It is named in honor of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco S ...

(''A. mooreorum'').

Classification

Nine species are currently recognized: *

Eastern woolly lemur The eastern woolly lemur (''Avahi laniger''), also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to eastern Madagascar, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern ...

, ''Avahi laniger'' *

Western woolly lemur The western woolly lemur or western avahi (''Avahi occidentalis'') is a species of woolly lemur native to western Madagascar, where they live in dry deciduous forests. These nocturnal animals weigh . It is a folivorous species. The western wooll ...

, ''Avahi occidentalis'' *

Sambirano woolly lemur The Sambirano woolly lemur (''Avahi unicolor''), also known as the Sambirano avahi or unicolor woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to western Madagascar. Description The species are located in Cacamba, on the peninsula of Ampasind ...

, ''Avahi unicolor'' *

, ''Avahi cleesei'' *

Peyrieras's woolly lemur Peyrieras's woolly lemur or Peyrieras's avahi (''Avahi peyrierasi'') is a species of woolly lemur native to southeastern Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, ...

, ''Avahi peyrierasi'' *

Southern woolly lemur The southern woolly lemur (''Avahi meridionalis''), or southern avahi, has been recently recognized as a separate species of woolly lemur in 2006 by Zaramody ''et al.'' It is a nocturnal and pair-living species. Groups can range from 2 (the paren ...

, ''Avahi meridionalis'' *

Ramanantsoavana's woolly lemur Ramanantsoavana's woolly lemur (''Avahi ramanantsoavanai''), also known as Ramanantsoavana's avahi or the Manombo woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to southeastern Madagascar. It weighs about 1 kg. It was originally conside ...

, ''Avahi ramanantsoavani'' *

Betsileo woolly lemur The Betsileo woolly lemur or Betsileo avahi (''Avahi betsileo'') is a species of woolly lemur native to southeastern Madagascar, in the District of Fandriana. The pelage differs significantly from other southeastern woolly lemurs in that it is p ...

, ''Avahi betsileo'' *

, ''Avahi mooreorum''

References

External links

Image of female and youngPrimate Info Net ''Avahi'' Factsheets
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1064408 Woolly lemurs