(2022 05 28) Ring tailed lemurs🐒

Photo: Mathias Appel · CC0

SpeciesPrimatesLemuridae
Primates

🐒Ring-tailed lemur

Lemur catta Linnaeus, 1758

The ring-tailed lemur is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families, and is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs, it is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is endangered. Known locally in Malagasy as maky or hira, it ranges from gallery forests to spiny scrub in the southern regions of the island. It is omnivorous, as well as the most adapted to living terrestrially of the extant lemurs.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
95
Photos
7
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/24th of your weight
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
2.56 kg
Body length
0.42 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
37 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Ring-tailed lemur

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
2.56 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 2.56 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Body length
0.42 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Brain mass
22 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
37 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 37 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Generation length
7.99 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
2.3 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
135 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 135 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Trophic level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0.05 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
173 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
2.6 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Ring-tailed lemur yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderPrimates
  5. ›familyLemuridae
  6. ›genusLemur
  7. ›speciesLemur catta
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. infraorderLemuriformes
  3. familyLemuridae
  4. genusLemur
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderEuarchontoglires
  11. suborderStrepsirrhini
  12. infraorderLemuriformes
  13. familyLemuridae
  14. genusLemur
More

More about the Ring-tailed lemur

Closest relative on this site
🐒 Indri — last shared an ancestor ≈ 23 million years ago.
What it eats
fruit80%
leaves, roots and other plants20%
In other languages
Katta (de), lemur catta (es), lémur catta (fr), Lemur catta (it), lemur katta (pl), למור זנב-טבעת (he) … and 27 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 95 videos →
Tools

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