Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Eu­le­mur ful­vus is found on Mada­gas­car and the Co­moro Is­lands. This species in­cludes five sub­species. They are Eu­le­mur ful­vus ful­vus (com­mon brown lemurs), Eu­le­mur ful­vus alb­ifrons (white-fronted lemurs), Eu­le­mur ful­vus col­laris (col­lared lemurs), Eu­le­mur ful­vus rufus (red-fronted lemurs), and Eu­le­mur ful­vus san­fordi (San­ford's lemurs). They all have their own spe­cific ranges within the larger range shared by the en­tire species.

Red fronted lemurs (E. f. rufus) are found nat­u­rally in west­ern and east­ern Mada­gas­car. There is also a small in­tro­duced pop­u­la­tion in South­ern Mada­gas­car at the Berenty Pri­vate Re­serve. Com­mon brown lemurs (E. f. ful­vis) are found in north­west por­tions of Mada­gas­car. White-fronted lemurs (E. f. alb­ifrons) are found through­out most of the re­main­ing north­east­ern rain for­est in Mada­gas­car. Col­lared lemurs (E. f. col­laris) are found in south­east­ern Mada­gas­car, and San­ford's lemurs (E. f. san­fordi) have a very re­stricted range in north­ern Mada­gas­car.

At some points, these sub­species exist sym­patri­cally.

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

The habi­tat for E. ful­vus varies slightly for each of the in­cluded sub­species. Red-fronted lemurs are found in the canopy of de­cid­u­ous forests in west­ern and east­ern Mada­gas­car. Com­mon brown lemurs and col­lared lemurs live in scat­tered for­est frag­ments in the high plateaus of west­ern Mada­gas­car. White-fronted lemurs are found in rain for­est frag­ments. San­ford's lemurs in­habit a very lim­ited area of sec­ondary for­est.

As men­tioned ear­lier, the habi­tats for these sub­species do over­lap, since some of the groups exist sym­patri­cally.

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Brown lemurs, like all true lemurs, have binoc­u­lar vi­sion and long furry tails. They have a scent gland lo­cated at their wrist that is used in ol­fac­tory com­mu­ni­ca­tion. This species is sex­u­ally dichro­matic - its males and fe­males have dif­fer­ent fur pat­terns.

All the mem­bers of this species fall within the broad size range of 2 to 4 kg. This is about the size of a house­cat. Each sub­species has its own unique mark­ings on its fur.

Red-fronted brown lemurs have an av­er­age weight of about 2.7 kg and their av­er­age body length is 40 cm. The tail is about 55 cm long. The males are gray to gray-brown and have a red­dish crown. The fe­males are red­dish-brown. All red-fronted brown lemurs have pale patches over their eyes.

Com­mon brown lemurs, weigh around 2.6 kg. Their body length is 50 cm, as is their tail length. Both males and fe­males are brown to dark-gray with light beards and dark faces.

White-fronted lemurs have a body weight of 2.3 kg, and body length of 40 cm, and a tail length of greater than 50 cm. Gen­er­ally, this sub­species is dark brown with a lighter un­der­side. Males have a white or cream col­ored head, ears and beard.

Col­lared lemurs are around 2.6 kg, with a body length of 50 cm and a tail length of 50 cm as well. Males are brown­ish-gray with a dark stripe down the back, a dark tail and tail tip, and a lighter un­der­side. Fe­males have a red­dish to brown coat and a gray face. Both sexes have a dis­tinct beard that is red­dish-brown in fe­males and cream to red­dish-brown in males.

San­ford's lemurs weigh around 2.3 kg and have a body length of 40 cm with a tail length of 50+ cm. They can be dis­tin­guished from the other sub­species by their fur. Both sexes are dark brown with a lighter un­der­side. Noses, snouts and the area be­tween the eyes are black, and a dark "T" that con­nects the eyes and nose dom­i­nates the head. Males have white-red­dish ear tufts and thick beards, pro­vid­ing them the il­lu­sion of a 'ragged mane' around their faces.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes colored or patterned differently

• Range mass

  2 to 4 kg

  4.41 to 8.81 lb

• Range length

  40 to 50 cm

  15.75 to 19.69 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  4.239 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

The mat­ing sys­tem of these lemurs has not been re­ported. How­ever, other species in the genus Eu­le­mur are ei­ther monog­a­mous or polyg­y­nous. It is likely that E. ful­vus is sim­i­lar. Un­like other mem­bers of the genus, fe­males are not usu­ally dom­i­nant to males, so the de­gree to which fe­males exert ac­tive mate choice is not known. (Nowak, 1999)

Brown lemurs reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity be­tween 1 and 2 years of age. Their mat­ing habits are very sea­sonal with mat­ing oc­cur­ing some­times in late May (San­ford's lemurs only) but usu­ally through­out June and July (all sub­species). The ges­ta­tion pe­riod for these an­i­mals is ap­prox­i­mately 120 days. In­fants are born in the fall, be­tween Sep­tem­ber and No­vem­ber. Only one in­fant is born per year to each mother.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  These lemurs breed once per year.

• Breeding season

  Mating occurs sometimes in late May (Sanford's lemurs only) but usually throughout June and July (all subspecies)

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1.1

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  120 days

• Average gestation period

  118 days

  AnAge

• Range weaning age

  4 to 6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 to 2 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 to 2 years

For the first three weeks of their lives, young lemurs hang onto the mother's bel­lies. They alter their grasp only to nurse. After three weeks have passed, they shift and ride on the mother's backs. They then begin to take their first steps. Fol­low­ing this, they start to sam­ple solid food, nib­bling on what­ever the other mem­bers of the group hap­pen to be eat­ing. This is their first sign of in­de­pen­dence. Nurs­ing con­tin­ues but its im­por­tance in the in­fant's diet ta­pers. The young lemur is weaned after ap­prox­i­mately 4 to 6 months - usu­ally by Jan­u­ary.

The role of males in parental care in this species has not been de­scribed.

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

One in­di­vid­ual of this species lived over 36 years in cap­tiv­ity. It is likely that, as with other lemurs in the genus, the max­i­mum lifes­pan in the wild ranges be­tween 20 and 25 years.

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  36 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  25 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  35.5 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

This species forms mul­ti­male-mul­ti­fe­male groups. De­pend­ing on the sub­species and pop­u­la­tion, the size of these groups can vary, pos­si­bly in­clud­ing up to 40 in­di­vid­u­als. Un­like most other lemurs, brown lemurs do not show signs of marked fe­male dom­i­nance.

In red-fronted brown lemurs, the west­ern and east­ern pop­u­la­tions of the same sub­species have dif­fer­ent so­cial be­hav­ior and group sizes. The west­ern pop­u­la­tions have groups of 4 to 17 in­di­vid­u­als with an av­er­age group size of 9. In the east the group sizes range from 6 to 18 and the av­er­age is 8 in­di­vid­u­als. Both pop­u­la­tions have home and day ranges.

In the west, the home range is from 1.75 to 2.5 acres (.75 to 1 ha) and the day range is 125 to 150 m. The pop­u­la­tion den­sity is higher in the west than in the east and can be as great as 10 in­di­vid­u­als/ha. In the east, the home range can be up to 100 ha and the day range is 451 to 1471 m. The pop­u­la­tion den­sity is com­par­a­tively much lower at .25 in­di­vid­u­als/ha.

Com­mon brown lemurs, white-fronted lemurs, and col­lared lemurs live in so­cial groups of ap­prox­i­mately 3 to 12. Group sizes of up to 29 in­di­vid­u­als have been ob­served for com­mon brown lemurs and col­lared lemurs. Their home range is around 17 to 50 acres (7 to 20 ha).

San­ford's lemurs live in groups of up to 15 an­i­mals al­though the av­er­age seems to be 3 to 9 in­di­vid­u­als. The home range for this sub­species can be up to 35.5 acres (14.4 ha), with con­sid­er­able over­lap with other groups.

The species is ar­bo­real and moves quadrupedally through­out the for­est canopy. These lemurs are also ca­pa­ble of leap­ing and when they do, their long tails as­sist them in main­tain­ing their bal­ance.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• diurnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Home Range

Home range size varies by sub­species and lo­ca­tion.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Groom­ing is a way for E. ful­vus to es­tab­lish and main­tain so­cial bonds. Their unique method of groom­ing is a re­sult of their 6 lower procum­bent teeth that form a den­tal comb. This in­stru­ment is used to groom their own fur and that of the other mem­bers in the group.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is achieved by both ol­fac­tory and vocal means. Ol­fac­tory com­mu­ni­ca­tion is ex­tremely im­por­tant and is made pos­si­ble by the scent glands lo­cated at the wrist throat. This type of com­mu­ni­ca­tion is used for trans­mit­ting phys­i­cal state, lo­ca­tion, and in­di­vid­ual recog­ni­tion.

The sounds brown lemurs use for vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion have been de­scribed and partly de­ci­phered. A nasal sound used in main­tain­ing group co­he­sion has been de­scribed as 'ohn'. A 'cree' or high pitched sound is used as a ter­ri­to­r­ial call, and 'Crou' is the alarm call of this lemur.

In ad­di­tion to these forms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, body pos­tures and fa­cial ex­pres­sions are likely to be im­por­tant vi­sual sig­nals.

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

This species is largely fo­liv­o­rous. It also eats flow­ers, fruit, and bark. The diet of E. ful­vus varies slightly be­tween sub­species and pop­u­la­tions.

Red-fronted lemurs are mainly fo­liv­o­rous (leaf-eat­ing). They also con­sume pods, stems, flow­ers, fruit, bark and sap of the kily tree (Tamarindus in­dica). How­ever, they have very adapt­able diets. These lemurs have the abil­ity to shift their nor­mally her­biv­o­rous diet to in­ver­te­brates and fungi when plant mat­ter is scarce. East­ern pop­u­la­tions are specif­i­cally known to in­clude in­sects, bird eggs, and dirt in their diets. They are known to have higher di­etary di­ver­sity than those pop­u­la­tions found in the west and a unique pre­dom­i­nance of fruit.

Com­mon brown lemurs, white-fronted lemurs, and col­lared lemurs eat mainly fruit, young leaves and flow­ers. San­ford's lemurs feed on pri­mar­ily fruit, oc­ca­sional plant parts and in­ver­te­brates.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore

• Animal Foods
• eggs
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• fruit
• flowers
• sap or other plant fluids

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

Preda­tors of these lemurs have not been re­ported, al­though pos­si­bil­i­ties in­clude fos­sas, rap­tors, and hu­mans.

Ecosys­tem Roles

As fru­gi­vores, these lemurs are likely to aid in dis­per­sal of seeds. As preda­tors on in­sects and bird nests, they may af­fect rel­e­vant pop­u­la­tions of an­i­mals. To the ex­tent that these lemurs serve as prey for other species, they may have some im­pact on preda­tor pop­u­la­tions.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The pro­tected areas of Mada­gas­car, which many lemurs (as well as many other types of flora and fauna) re­side in, have be­come quite an at­trac­tion for tourists. Com­mu­ni­ties in Mada­gas­car ben­e­fit greatly from this. They re­ceive fifty per­cent of na­tional park entry fees. Local in­hab­i­tants also ben­e­fit by serv­ing as guides and by sell­ing hand­i­crafts to the tourists.

Mem­bers of this species are some­times hunted for meat.

• Positive Impacts
• food
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Eu­le­mur ful­vus has no known neg­a­tive ef­fects on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The con­ser­va­tion sta­tus of brown lemurs is par­tially due to their re­stricted ge­o­graph­i­cal area. Their pri­mary threat is habi­tat de­struc­tion. Habi­tat de­struc­tion is largely the re­sult of the ex­plo­sive growth rate of the human pop­u­la­tion of Mada­gas­car. This species is placed in a some­what lower risk cat­e­gory (Vul­ner­a­ble) be­cause of its pre­sum­ably large wild pop­u­la­tion and oc­cur­rence in a num­ber of pro­tected areas.

For red-fronted lemurs, the west­ern habi­tats are largely at risk be­cause of burn­ing and clear­ing of land for pas­ture. In the east, the chief haz­ards are the slash-and-burn agri­cul­ture and for­est cut­ting for fuel wood and con­struc­tion. This sub­species oc­curs in some pro­tected areas of Mada­gas­car and can be found in cap­tiv­ity in 22 zoos world­wide where ap­prox­i­mately 100 in­di­vid­u­als are held.

For­est de­struc­tion is the pri­mary threat to the sur­vival of com­mon brown lemurs. They are also hunted through­out much of their range. This sub­species is found in pro­tected areas in Mada­gas­car, and may be one of the low­est risk sub­species of brown lemur. Com­mon brown lemurs have bred in cap­tiv­ity and there are cur­rently about 140 an­i­mals at 40 in­sti­tu­tions world­wide.

The white-fronted lemurs are threat­ened by the de­struc­tion of Mada­gas­car's east­ern rain for­est for slash-and-burn agri­cul­ture. This an­i­mal is also hunted for food through­out most of its range. Presently, it does exist in pro­tected areas in Mada­gas­car. White-fronted lemurs do breed in cap­tiv­ity, and there are over 200 an­i­mals in cap­tiv­ity at more than 40 zoos world­wide.

For­est de­struc­tion is the pri­mary threat to the sur­vival of col­lared lemurs as well. They too, are hunted for food through­out much of their range. In ad­di­tion to this, they are oc­ca­sion­ally trapped for the pet trade. Col­lared lemurs occur nat­u­rally in only one of Mada­gas­car's pro­tected areas, but have been in­tro­duced into two oth­ers. Ap­prox­i­mately 40 col­lared lemurs are cur­rently in cap­tiv­ity in 6 in­sti­tu­tions world­wide.

San­ford's lemurs are also threat­ened by for­est de­struc­tion. This sub­species, how­ever, does ap­pear to be able to sur­vive in slightly de­graded habi­tats. Al­though San­ford's lemurs are found in pro­tected areas in Mada­gas­car, the level of pro­tec­tion varies among the re­serves. This is be­cause poach­ing and brush fires are com­mon events in many of Mada­gas­car's na­ture re­serves. There are only two cap­tive breed­ing groups of san­ford's lemurs.

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Nita Bharti (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

"United States Agency for In­ter­na­tional De­vel­op­ment: Pre­serv­ing a Nat­ural Par­adise in Mada­gas­car" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 11, 1999 at http://​www.​info.​usaid.​gov/​regions/​afr/​new_​day/​a56.​txt.

Adams, J. 1994. "The Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Va­ri­ety of Equa­to­r­ial Rain For­est" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 13, 1999 at http://​www.​esd.​ornl.​gov/​~vxk/rainfo.​html.

Bur­ton, F. 1995. The Mul­ti­me­dia Guide to the Non-hu­man Pri­mates. Canada: Pren­tice-Hall Canada Inc..

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, July 23, 1999. "Col­lared lemurs" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 1999 at http://​primatecenter.​duke.​edu/​animals/​collared/​.

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, Last Up­dated Oc­to­ber 10, 1999. "Com­mon brown lemurs" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 1999 at http://​www.​duke.​edu/​web/​primate/​brown.​html.

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, "Red-fronted Brown Lemur" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 11, 1999 at http://​primatecenter.​duke.​edu/​animals/​brown/​redfronted.​php.

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, Last Up­dated July 28, 1999. "Red-fronted lemurs" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 1999 at http://​www.​duke.​edu/​web/​primate/​redfront.​html.

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, Last Up­dated July 29, 1999. "San­ford’s Lemurs" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15,1999 at http://​www.​duke.​edu/​web/​primate/​sanford.​html.

Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter, Last Up­dated July 23, 1999. "White-fronted lemurs" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 1999 at http://​primatecenter.​duke.​edu/​animals/​brown/​whitefronted.​php.

In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources, Cam­bridge, U.K., "EN­DAN­GERED AND THREAT­ENED PRI­MATES" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 11, 1999 at http://​www.​selu.​com/​~bio/cyto/text/iuc­n_redlist.txt.

Mit­ter­meier, R., W. Kon­stant, M. Nicoll, O. Lan­grand. 1992. Lemurs of Mada­gas­car: An Ac­tion Plan for their Con­ser­va­tion, 1993-1999. Gland, Switzer­land: IUCN/SSC Pri­mate Spe­cial­ist Group.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Sixth Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Olney, P., P. Ellis. 1992. Cen­sus of Rare An­i­mals in Cap­tiv­ity 1991. In­ter­na­tional Zoo Year­book, 31.

Tat­ter­sall, I. 1982. The Pri­mates of Mada­gas­car. New York: Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­sity Press.

Un­known, Last up­dated July 28, 1999. "Duke Uni­ver­sity Pri­mate Cen­ter" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 11, 1999 at http://​www.​duke.​edu/​web/​primate/​.

Wilkie, G. Up­dated De­cem­ber 1st, 1998.. "Go­dric's Lemur Gallery" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 11, 1999 at http://​www.​gozen.​demon.​co.​uk/​godric/​lemgall.​html.