 | Lemurs and humans are both primates. Primates are the animal order that includes
prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans. Primate
means first. All primates have hands with
fingers that move. Fingers and toes also have
nails. Nails help primates to climb trees. Lemurs were the first primates to evolve. This makes them very important to the study of
man’s evolution. Evolution is the way
living things change and adapt to their environment.
There are two groups of primates, anthropoids
and prosimians. Humans are anthropoids.
Anthropoids are “man-like.” They
have good vision and large brains. Monkeys
and apes are also anthropoids. |
| Lemurs are a special kind of primate called
prosimians. Prosimians are the oldest primate
group. Prosimian means “before the
monkeys.” The eyes of prosimians are
close to the front of their faces. This
allows them to see better and control things. Lemurs
that hunt only at night have big eyes that allow them to see better when it is dark. They also have large ears and special scent glands
to help them get along at night.
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Lemurs are the most endangered primates. There are 32 different
kinds of lemurs that exist today. Sixteen species have
become extinct. Lemur
means ghost in Latin because they are nocturnal. They live on
Madagascar, an island near Africa. The largest lemur is
the Indri and it weighs about 15 pounds. The dwarf mouse lemur
is the smallest primate.
There are more than 10,000 black lemurs.
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| Madagascar is called the red
island because it has red soil. It broke from
Africa 175 million years ago. Madagascar
moves 1 inch away from Africa a year. On
Africa, Prosimians were forced to go out at night to avoid smarter primates. Lemurs went to Madagascar to get away from the
smarter primates. Lemurs crossed to the
island on ‘rafts’ of plants and wood. The
island was hundreds of miles away from Africa when they started their journey. On Madagascar, lemurs did not have any predators
until humans came and hunted them. Without
predators, lots of different kinds of lemurs evolved.
Some lemurs could even be active during the day.
|
| Madagascar is called the red
island because it has red soil. It broke from
Africa 175 million years ago. Madagascar
moves 1 inch away from Africa a year. On
Africa, Prosimians were forced to go out at night to avoid smarter primates. Lemurs went to Madagascar to get away from the
smarter primates. Lemurs crossed to the
island on ‘rafts’ of plants and wood. The
island was hundreds of miles away from Africa when they started their journey. On Madagascar, lemurs did not have any predators
until humans came and hunted them. Without
predators, lots of different kinds of lemurs evolved.
Some lemurs could even be active during the day.
|
| The male lemurs have scent
glands in their armpits and their forearms. They
rub their tail on the glands until it is smelly and then they wave the tail at the other
lemur. This is a nice way of fighting without
the lemurs getting hurt. This is called a
stink fight. Female lemurs are dominant to
the male lemurs. Lemurs stay in groups of 7
to 10 lemurs. They use the sense of smell to
communicate with each other. Lemurs tails
help them to balance when they jump from tree to tree.
Most of the lemurs stay up in trees and bushes.
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| Baby lemurs stay with their mom for two years.
Half of all lemurs born each year die.
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| Lemurs eat leaves, fruit, insects, and sometimes little animals.
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