Ring-tailed Lemurs

The Ring-tailed Lemur, Lemur catta, is probably the best-known lemur species in the world!  Lemurs only live on and around the island of Madagascar (those on the Comoro islands were probably introduced from there).  They are very diverse today but were even more diverse in the past, before humans reached the island, with some species reaching a bodyweight of perhaps 200 kg/440 lbs!  The ring-tailed lemur reaches about 2.2 kg/5 lbs.  It has long hind legs, raising its characteristic ringed tail high in the air as it walks about on all fours.  These are fairly terrestrial lemurs, spending about a third of their time on the ground.  They inhabit a variety of forest types in the south of the island.  Unfortunately, even this iconic lemur is endangered today!  (Most of the time mothers have single babies, but they can have twins as shown here.)  Watercolour.