The Sambirano woolly lemur (''Avahi unicolor''), also known as the Sambirano avahi or unicolor 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 western

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 species are located in Cacamba, on the peninsula of Ampasindava, in northwestern Madagascar . This sub-species is distinguished form ''Avahi occidentalis'' by its lack of the white facial outline and the lack of the black hairless circles that surround the eyes . The face itself is slightly more pale than the upper head which creates a slight contrasting facial outline caused by the fur length and consistency (facial hair is short and not curled in comparison to the rest of the body) . The contrasting facial outline has a small fur spot above the nose and the forehead that presents the appearance of a dark line . Its eyes are maroon with black, hairless eyelids. The snout is also black and hairless, but the corners of the mouth have a white tint. The fur of the head and body is a light gray-beige, and has a sightly curled, freckled appearance. Its tail is gray-brown or reddish-brown, while the base is a pale brown or cream color. The back is slightly darker in the shoulder-blade area. The lower body's limbs are an off-white color, while the fur on the chest, belly, and inner limbs is fairly thin and light-gray in color.

Habitat

This species is very poorly known, since so far there have been just a few specimens found. They might be living in the Sambirano region in north-western Madagascar. Probable limits of their distribution are the

Sambirano River The Sambirano is a river of northwestern Madagascar in the region of Diana. It has its sources at the Maromokotra peak and flows through the Tsaratanana Reserve to the Indian Ocean. Its delta occupies 250 km. The ecosystem of the river, ma ...

in the north and the Andranomalaza or Maevarano River in the south.

Conservation

As It is not known to which degree the species is hunted, deforestation is probably the main threat it has to face. It is listed on Appendix I of

CITES 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 ...

. Since there are only a few known specimens in protected areas, Additional research and extending the reserves would be essential.

References

Woolly lemurs Mammals described in 2000 {{lemur-stub