I'm Zack and I'm a lemur! You didn’t know I was a lemur? Well, I suppose we are rather rare. Too rare, in fact. We are an endangered species, but we are looking to change that! To begin, I will tell you that basically I am a primate. Oh my...What is a primate? And I thought describing myself would be easy! Ok...hmmm...Well, primates are basically characterized by the following:

We tend to have a more vertical posture, even if we do not always walk upright. We use our limbs differently than other mammals in that it is more humanlike (grabbing, holding, climbing) than just for moving around.

We tend to have longer lives with longer periods of infancy, childhood and adulthood because our brain capacity gives us the ability to learn, adapt and survive better than other mammals.

Now, these are just basic characteristics. There are many more features that make primates different from other mammals, but that is just to give you an idea. Now that you have an idea of what a primate is, back to lemurs!!

 

 

Where are lemurs?

 

Madagascar! Have you seen the movies? Well, imagine the real thing! It is so beautiful and I love to go back and visit. Madagascar is world-famous for us lemurs. Tourists tell us that we look like something of a cat crossed with a squirrel and a dog. Now, I think I am much cuter than a cross between such animals, though I must admit, I do find all three to be VERY cute! Just not quite as cute as me!

Anyway, we lemurs are unique to this island and display a range of interesting behaviours. We can sing like a whale and let me tell you, the latest pop stars are NOTHING next to us! And we can even dance across the sand like a ballet dancer. You might just see us in the next famous ballet coming to town. Don’t be surprised! We have really nice hands and feet. They have a velvety feel to them and people love to shake hands with us! We are very family oriented and frequently carry our little ones around on our backs, although if we had something more practical, I am certain we would use it.

 

Anyway...a bit of history... 

 

Lemur history

 

Madagascar does not have the diverse number of primates that you might see in other parts of the world. Instead, the primary type of primate is, yes, you guessed it! The LEMUR! We are insect and fruit eating primates that have small bodies, a bit of a long nose (it is CUTE!), and large eyes. Some of us are nocturnal such as my strangely famous cousin the aye-aye , The only reason we still exist today is because of Madagascar's isolation and thank goodness for that, but our population is still dwindling.

Madagascar has been said to have been attached to the African mainland many, many years ago. Over time, Madgascar moved away from Africa. The first lemur-like primates were in Africa and crossed over to Madagascar,  at least that's what the legend tells us and I think it has proven to be a VERY smart move on our part!

When monkeys arrived on the scene, they were intelligent in a different kind of way and we had to try to adapt as best we could, but I must admit that it wasn’t easy. Some of us stayed and some of us left, which is the beginning of a sad story. See, we are an endangered species because some of us chose not to cohabitate with the monkeys and it is the isolation of Madagascar that kept us safe. Then, deforestation and hunting eliminated many of our species, leaving mostly the types of lemurs that you see today. We used to have species of lemurs that could stand tall next to a Gorilla! But, those days have long gone... Sad though this story may be, we are not upset or bitter! Instead, we are going to choose to adapt once again! We are working with the humans to help protect as many endangered species as we can, including many species of monkeys and other primates that you may not have heard of. This will be hard work, but so worth it! Wouldn’t you love to be able to shake my hand!! You will be able to, I know it!

 

Lemurs Today and Global Significance

 

Today Madagascar is home to nearly 60 types of lemurs with many different sizes. All these species are native to Madagascar. The best part is that new species of us are still being discovered and researchers estimate that 10-20 new species of lemurs may be found over the next generation. Isn’t that exciting?? But there is more to it than that. Lemurs from Madagascar bear a global importance. Madagascar is only one of 92 countries with wild primate habitats, but it has the highest percentage of primate genera (plural of genus meaning a species that bear like characteristics and traits) and the highest percentage of primate families (according to Mittermeiers’s publication, The Eighth Continent). This makes Madagascar the single highest priority for primate conservation.

Wow, I feel important!! And YOU should, too! By becoming a part of ZackBrandit, YOU make a difference, too!! Read about our values and mission and how that makes YOU a big part of this global impact.

 

 

We would like to thank Tor for letting us use his great lemur pictures. For more amazing pictures, don't hesitate to check Tor's Flickr page.