To Be Or Not To Be... A Monkey?
Even though lemurs have fox-like snouts and large round eyes, they are distant cousins to monkeys, apes, and man. Like other primates, lemurs have soft broad pads on their fingers and toes with flat nails that allow them to grip objects and groom one another. All lemurs are covered by dense, soft hair and have long bushy tails. Lemurs live in a variety of ecological niches but only on the island of Madagascar. Some live high in the tree tops, while others live in the understory and occasionally venture to the ground. These active creatures are good climbers and jumpers that can be described as arboreal kangaroos leaping through the forest canopy.

Social Ways And Communication Displays
Nocturnal lemurs usually live by themselves, while diurnal lemurs live in family groups that routinely take time to bask in the sun's warn rays. Females and their female relatives form the center of a social group. Interactions among individuals are common and there are clear male and female hierarchies. In some species, females are dominant over males. This is displayed primarily at feeding time when females chase males away from food. Males transfer frequently among nearby groups to find mates. Such movement keeps the populations healthy and stable by ensuring important mixing of characteristics.

All lemurs communicate with neighbors that share their home range. It is common to hear lemurs engaging in singing and barking battles. Besides communicating vocally, some lemurs use scent marks. They possess glands on their wrists and bottoms that they rub against branches leaving a distinct smell or odor. Marking branches helps to define individual territories.

Many lemurs also communicate by using their large bushy tails. The tail serves as a threatening visual signal and also as an olfactory weapon. A lemur will draw its tail past the inside of its forearm to treat it with its distinct odor and then wave it through the air to pass on its scent.

Like many other primates, social lemurs groom each other and themselves. The claw of the second toe is used like a comb, and lemurs will scratch themselves like dogs to rid their coats of parasites.

Conservation For Unrivaled Biodiversity
Lemurs have never been in competition with any other primates except man, who, unfortunately, has destroyed 75% of the forests that lemurs once inhabited. Timber is cut for wood products and fuel, or cleared to provide land for livestock and agriculture. Most of the lands are cleared through slashing and burning. Local customs also work against forest preservation efforts since traditional farming methods forbid plowing. Without plowing, a field's productive lifetime is dramatically reduced, forcing farmers to seek out and destroy more forests. Providing new methods and ideas in farming can aid in more efficient land use.

Immediate and positive effects on Madagascar's flora and fauna will occur only by changing human attitudes, improving and expanding reserves, and providing ways for the local people to earn a living. And constructive steps are now being taken. Madagascar has established two national parks and thirty-four nature reserves. Maintaining and improving the reserves are critically important for several reasons: 90% of the plants and animals found on Madagascar occur nowhere else on earth, reserves create jobs for the local people and generate income for the local economy through ecotourism, and recently, the Malagasy have become aware of the importance of lemurs as a part of their natural heritage. Ecology is now taught in most schools in Madagascar.

Though far away from us, helping Madagascar's wildlife and habitats is within our reach. Getting involved with a conservation organization that works in Madagascar is one of the most effective ways to protect lemurs and the unique biological diversity that share the island with them.

Arboreal: inhabiting trees