Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Ha­pale­mur griseus is the en­demic to Mada­gas­car. It is the most wide­spread of all bam­boo lemurs. Each of the 4 sub­species oc­cu­pies a slightly dif­fer­ent zone with Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus being the most widely dis­trib­uted sub­species. Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus is found through­out the east­ern rain­for­est zone ex­cept for the far south­ern por­tion. Ha­pale­mur griseus alaotren­sis is only found around Lac Alao­tra, liv­ing in reedbeds and float­ing reed is­lands. Ha­pale­mur griseus oc­ci­den­talis is found in small rain­for­est re­gion in north­west­ern Mada­gas­car. Ha­pale­mur griseus merid­ion­alis is only found near the Fort Dauphin area of ex­treme south­east Mada­gas­car. (Flan­nery, 2007; Grassi, 2001)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Ha­pale­mur griseus is en­demic to Mada­gas­car. Av­er­age air tem­per­a­ture of this area is 21°C, but varies from 4°C to 30°C. The en­vi­ron­ment is typ­i­cally very humid. It is com­monly found in areas con­tain­ing bam­boo, marsh­lands, low­lands, and forests and pri­mar­ily in­hab­its pri­mary and sec­ondary forests. Four dif­fer­ent sub-species of Ha­pale­mur griseus have been doc­u­mented (H. g. griseus, H. g. alaotren­sis, H. g. oc­ci­den­talis, and H. g. meri­don­alis), all of which oc­cupy slightly unique habi­tats at dif­fer­ent el­e­va­tions through­out the species' ge­o­graphic range. The over­all range for the species occur from sea level to 2050 me­ters. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

• Wetlands
• marsh

• Range elevation

  0 to 2050 m

  0.00 to 6725.72 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Ha­pale­mur griseus is a small to medium-sized lemur, with an av­er­age length of 66 cm and an av­er­age weight of 0.935 kg. Males tend to be slightly larger than fe­males. In gen­eral, H. griseus has grey fur; how­ever, four dif­fer­ent sub­species have been doc­u­mented, all of which ex­hibit sub­tle vari­a­tions in phys­i­cal ap­pear­ance. It has a non-pre­hen­sile tail, its fore­arms are shorter than its hindlimbs, it has sweat glands on its fore­arms and near its armpits, and it has a den­tal for­mula of 2:1:3:3. Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus is mostly gray with olive tones, a dark gray tail and lighter gray fur along the ven­ter. It has large ears, which are mostly hid­den in the fur, and its tail is longer than the head and body com­bined. Ha­pale­mur griseus alaotren­sis is darker than H. g. griseus, is slightly larger, and its large ears are also rel­a­tively hid­den by its fur. Its tail is gen­er­ally the same length as the head and body com­bined. Ha­pale­mur griseus oc­ci­den­talis is lighter than that of Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus and its large ears are rel­a­tively less hid­den. Its tail is longer than its head and body com­bined. Ha­pale­mur griseus merid­ion­alis is dark gray or beige. Its ears ex­tend out no­tice­ably from its fur, but to a lesser ex­tent than that of Ha­pale­mur griseus oc­ci­den­talis and its tail is equal to or slightly longer than the head and body com­bined. (Flan­nery, 2007; An­dri­a­holini­rina et alia, 2010)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Average mass

  0.935 kg

  2.06 lb

• Average mass

  1347.5 g

  47.49 oz

  AnAge

• Average length

  66 cm

  25.98 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Ha­pale­mur griseus pri­mar­ily lives in groups. Stud­ies have shown that 42% of groups have one adult male and one adult fe­male. Around 27% of groups have mul­ti­ple adults of each gen­der, 19% have two adult fe­males and 1 adult male, and 12% have two adult males and one adult fe­male. Most groups have more re­pro­duc­ing males than fe­males. Al­though most breed­ing re­la­tion­ships are monog­a­mous, they can also be polyg­y­nous. Polyg­y­nous groups tend to have more off­spring. Many groups also in­clude sub-adults. Mat­ing sea­son runs from June to July, with births oc­cur­ring in Oc­to­ber and No­vem­ber. Fe­males have on av­er­age one baby per year and they usu­ally once an­nu­ally. In­tra­group fe­males are often re­lated; how­ever, males tend to be un­re­lated. Mat­ing oc­curs al­most ex­clu­sively within group. One study found that only 8.5% of births had ex­tra-group pa­ter­nity. The sub-species H. g. alaotren­sis has a longer breed­ing sea­son than other sub-species of H. griseus. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Mating System
• monogamous
• polygynous

H. griseus comes into es­trus once a year. It typ­i­cally gives birth to only one off­spring, and rarely has twins. Breed­ing sea­son oc­curs dur­ing the dry sea­son (i.e., sum­mer or fall) and birthing typ­i­cally oc­curs dur­ing the rainy sea­son, dur­ing which time bam­boo, their pri­mary forge, is abun­dant. Ges­ta­tion lasts roughly 140 days and most young are com­pletely weaned by 20 weeks of age. Most fe­males are re­pro­duc­tively ma­ture by 2 years old, and most males are re­pro­duc­tively ma­ture by 3 years old. (Flan­nery, 2007; Williams, 2001; Grassi, 2001; An­dri­a­holini­rina et alia, 2010)

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

• Breeding interval

  Hapalemur griseus breeds once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Breeding season in Hapalemur griseus occurs during the dry season, from June-August.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1.2

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  140 days

• Average gestation period

  140 days

  AnAge

• Average weaning age

  20 weeks

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  880 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 years

Av­er­age birth weight for Ha­pale­mur griseus is 45.2 g. The mother car­ries the in­fant in her mouth for about two weeks until young are strong enough to hold on. In­fants then cling to the mother until they are a lit­tle larger. Some­times the fa­ther or a sib­ling car­ries the in­fant, but most often it is the mother’s re­spon­si­bil­ity. Young are car­ried for ap­prox­i­mately 3 months; how­ever, once young be­come a lit­tle big­ger, they re­main in a tree while the mother searches for food. Once the in­fant is about three weeks old they are able to jump around, hop, and walk. Young can eat bam­boo by 6 weeks of age, but still de­pend on their mother to pro­vide them with food. Fe­males reach re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity by 2 years of age, and males reach re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity by 3 years of age. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Parental Investment
• female parental care
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

There is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able re­gard­ing the lifes­pan of Ha­pale­mur griseus in the wild. In cap­tiv­ity, records in­di­cate a max­i­mum age of 23 years. The pri­mary cause of death in the wild is pre­da­tion. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  23 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Sex: female
  Status: captivity

  17.1 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Sex: male
  Status: captivity

  12.8 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Av­er­age group size for Ha­pale­mur griseus is around 4 in­di­vid­u­als. Groups are ter­ri­to­r­ial and males de­fend their group's ter­ri­tory from po­ten­tial ri­vals. Ter­ri­to­r­ial be­hav­ior in­cludes scent mark­ing, chas­ing, vo­cal­iza­tions, dis­plays, and star­ing. Con­fronta­tions are typ­i­cally not vi­o­lent and only 25% of these be­come ag­gres­sive. In­ter­group dis­putes usu­ally arise be­cause of an over­lap in ter­ri­to­ries. Al­though males are pri­mar­ily re­spon­si­ble for group pro­tec­tion, fe­males are dom­i­nant within the group. Once fe­males reach sub-adult­hood, they ei­ther dis­perse or re­main with their natal group. Males dis­perse upon reach­ing adult­hood, which oc­curs around three years of age. Ha­pale­mur griseus also ex­hibits la­trine be­hav­ior and takes turns defe­cat­ing in a sin­gle, cen­tral­ized lo­ca­tion. It fre­quently clings to trees and when mov­ing be­tween trees, it leaps from trunk to trunk. Move­ment is quadrupedal once in­di­vid­u­als de­scend to the ground. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• motile
• territorial
• social

• Range territory size

  0.06 to 0.15 km^2

• Average territory size

  0.1 km^2

Home Range

Home range size is highly vari­able in Ha­pale­mur griseus and de­pends on what re­gion of Mada­gas­car the in­di­vid­ual or group re­sides in. In some parks, home range has been found to be be­tween 0.06 km^2 and 0.1 km^2. In other parks, home range has been found to be around 0.15 km^2. In gen­eral, home range size is rel­a­tively small for H. griseus when com­pared to other bam­boo lemures. Ha­pale­mur griseus only ven­tures out of its home range dur­ing times of scarcity.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Ha­pale­mur griseus has scent glands that as­sist in ol­fac­tory com­mu­ni­ca­tion with group mem­bers and ri­vals. Many forms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion occur on or with pa­pyrus plants, in­clud­ing sub­strate mark­ing. When sub­strate mark­ing, in­di­vid­u­als scratch pa­pyrus leaves with their teeth and ei­ther rub the piece of pa­pyrus on its scent glands or uri­nate on it. Ha­pale­mur griseus also per­forms scent mark­ing with its tail by rub­bing the fore­arm scent glands along the length of the tail while watch­ing star­ing at a rival. Other forms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion in­clude run­ning around a patch of veg­e­ta­tion in cir­cles to iden­tify ones lo­ca­tion, by con­fronting in­di­vid­u­als, by chas­ing away in­di­vid­u­als, and by star­ing. Tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion is largely re­stricted to so­cial groom­ing. Vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion of H. griseus is ac­com­plished through a va­ri­ety of grunts, clicks, screeches, trem­bles, teeth grind­ing, and purrs. In­fants often purr when licked by their mother and per­form a high-pitched dis­tress call when sep­a­rated from its mother. When re­united with their young, moth­ers cre­ate a grunt-like sound. Ha­pale­mur griseus also per­forms mat­ing calls, low-in­ten­sity alarm calls, high-in­ten­sity alarm calls, in­tim­i­da­tion calls, and calls that are used to iden­tify the lo­ca­tion of con­specifics. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

The pri­mary for­age of Ha­pale­mur griseus is bam­boo. There are over 40 species of bam­boo, but the main species con­sumed by H. griseus is giant bam­boo. Al­though bam­boo is con­sid­ered toxic due to high con­cen­tra­tions of cyanide found through­out the plant, bam­boo lemurs do not ex­pe­ri­ence cyanide poinson­ing. The mech­a­nism of how this is ac­com­plished is still un­known. A typ­i­cal diet for this species is 72% bam­boo, 16% grasses, 5% fruits, 4% leaves (usu­ally from var­i­ous lianas), and 3% from other sources. Ha­pale­mur griseus eats the bases and the inner walls of young bam­boo shoots. It feeds through one side of its mouth and chews the bam­boo on the other side. Around 70% of its time is spent feed­ing on bam­boo. Food pref­er­ences are con­tin­gent on time of year and re­source avail­abil­ity. Fe­males tend to eat more than the males be­cause of the phys­i­o­log­i­cal stress in­duced by ges­ta­tion and lac­ta­tion. (Flan­nery, 2007)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore
  • lignivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

Known preda­tors in­clude Mala­gasy tree boas as well as other boas, ring-tailed mon­gooses, hu­mans, fos­sas, owls, and Mada­gas­car ser­pent ea­gles. Other po­ten­tial preda­tors in­clude other rap­tors, lemurs, dogs, and cats. Vi­sual mon­i­tor­ing and vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion are the pri­mary means of evad­ing pre­da­tion by H. griseus. In ad­di­tion, their ar­bo­real na­ture likely re­duces risk of pre­da­tion as well. (Flan­nery, 2007; Williams, 2001)

• Known Predators

  • Malagasy tree boas, (Sanzinia madagascariensis)
  • boas, (Boidae)
  • ring-tailed mongoose, (Galidia elegans)
  • humans, (Homo sapiens)
  • fossas, (Cryptoprocta ferox)
  • owls, (Strigiformes)
  • Madagascar serpent eagles, (Eutriorchis astur)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Other than their role as prey for a num­ber of Mala­gasy preda­tors, lit­tle is known of the po­ten­tial im­pact of Ha­pale­mur griseus on their local en­vi­ron­ment. Major preda­tors of H. griseus in­clude Mala­gasy tree boas as well as other boas, ring-tailed mon­gooses, hu­mans, fos­sas, owls, and Mada­gas­car ser­pent ea­gles. There is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able re­gard­ing par­a­sites of this species. (Flan­nery, 2007; Williams, 2001)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Ha­pale­mur griseus is hunted by hu­mans through­out their ge­o­graphic range and is also col­lected for the local pet trade. (An­dri­a­holini­rina et alia, 2010)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Ha­pale­mur griseus on hu­mans. Ques­tions have been raised about the po­ten­tial trans­mis­sion of zoonotic dis­eases from lemurs to hu­mans and do­mes­tic an­i­mals.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ha­pale­mur griseus is clas­si­fied as vul­ner­a­ble on the IUCN's Red List of Threat­ened Species. Al­though it is cur­rently rec­og­nized as com­mon, pop­u­la­tions are de­creas­ing due to hunt­ing and the pet trade. In ad­di­tion, habi­tat loss due the clear­ing of bam­boo stands and slash-and-burn agri­cul­ture have had a neg­a­tive im­pact on the range and abun­dance of this species. CITES (the Con­ven­tion on In­ter­na­tional Trade in En­dan­gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) lists H. griseus under Ap­pen­dix I and it oc­curs in a num­ber of na­tional parks and habi­tat re­serves. (An­dri­a­holini­rina et alia, 2010)

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• CITES

  Appendix I

Con­trib­u­tors

John Hibbs (au­thor), Augs­burg Col­lege, Kevin Potts (ed­i­tor), Augs­burg Col­lege, John Berini (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

An­dri­a­holini­rina et alia, 2010. "Ha­pale­mur griseus" (On-line). The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed April 18, 2011 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​apps/​redlist/​details/​9673/​0.

Flan­nery, S. 2007. "Gray Gen­tle Lemur (Ha­pale­mur griseus)" (On-line). The Pri­mata. Ac­cessed April 15, 2011 at http://​www.​theprimata.​com/​hapalemur_​griseus.​html.

Grassi, C. 2001. The Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy of Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus: The In­flu­ences of Mi­cro­hab­i­tat and Pop­u­la­tion Den­sity on this Small-bod­ied Prosimian Fo­li­vore. Uni­ver­sity of Texas. Ac­cessed April 21, 2011 at http://​icte.​bio.​sunysb.​edu/​pdf_​files/​GrassiDissertation.​pdf.

Gron, K. 2010. "Pri­mate Info Net" (On-line). Ha­pale­mur. Ac­cessed April 19, 2011 at http://​pin.​primate.​wisc.​edu/​factsheets/​entry/​bamboo_​lemur/​taxon.

Niev­ergelt, C., T. Mutschler, A. Feist­ner, D. Woodruff. 2002. So­cial Sys­tem of the Alao­tran Gen­tle Lemur (Ha­pale­mur griseus alaotren­sis): Ge­netic Char­ac­ter­i­za­tion of Group Com­po­si­tion and Mat­ing Sys­tem. Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy, 57: 157-176. Ac­cessed April 19, 2011 at http://​polymorphism.​scripps.​edu/​Reprints/​AJP-CN-2002.​pdf.

Ralaina­solo, F., P. Wae­ber, J. Rat­sim­bazafy, J. Durbin, R. Lewis. 2006. The Alao­tra gen­tle lemur: Pop­u­la­tion es­ti­ma­tion and sub­se­quent im­pli­ca­tions. MADA­GAS­CAR CON­SER­VA­TION & DE­VEL­OP­MENT, 1/1: 9-10. Ac­cessed April 19, 2011 at http://​www.​ajol.​info/​index.​php/​mcd/​article/​viewFile/​44044/​27559.

Williams, G. 2001. "Ha­pale­mur griseus griseus" (On-line). Wel­come to Ra­nomafana Na­tional Park. Ac­cessed April 18, 2011 at https://​web.​archive.​org/​web/​20110913140122/​http://​icte.​bio.​sunysb.​edu/​rano.​biodiv/​Mammals/​Hapalemur-griseus/​index.​html.