Special Sub-Topic: Lemurs Click Here To Play: Lemurs

Lemurs come from where?

Madagascar. Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar. The ancestral lemur is thought to have 'rafted' over from Africa on a mass of floating vegetation.

What kind of lemur is Zooboomafoo?

Coquerel's Sifaka. Zooboo was played by Jovian, a sifaka who resides in the Duke University Primate Center. Check out their website www.duke.edu slash web slash primate and visit them if you get the chance. Note this quiz doesn't let me use slash punctuation.

Which of these is *not* a family of lemurs?

Viverridae. The Viverrids include civets and the fossa, possibly the coolest predator ever. Check out the fossa quiz, 53, by 'fossa'. The others are 3 of the 5 lemurid families although there is some debate on the rank of Daubentonidae...

By tapping its long, thin 3rd finger on the wood of trees, the aye-aye can detect:

all of these (insect larvae within, hollow cavities, any break in the wood's integrity). Experiments by Carl Erickson show the aye-aye can find hollows in the wood, even if they've been filled in with wood of the same density. However the aye-aye is more likely to excavate hollow chambers, and most likely to excavate prey-containing hollows.

Most lemur societies are dominated by which sex?

Female. Sometimes the female-dominance is obvious, but often it is subtle. After much observation and statistical analysis, female dominance emerges in grooming, social displacement, and choice of best feeding site.

The aye aye was first classified as a

squirrel. The original Latin name for the aye-aye was Sciurus madagascariensis (now it is Daubentonia madagascariensis). The aye-aye has rodent-like continuously growing incisors, amoung other peculiar traits.

Which lemur sings?

Indri. Each member of an indri group has a different role in the group song, which lasts up to 5 minutes and is sung perhaps once a day, on average. Godric's world www.gozen.demon.co.uk slash godric slash godric.html has a sample. Note this quiz doesn't let me use slash punctuation.

True or false: giant lemurs once roamed Madagascar.

true. There were dozens of species, the largest about the size of a large male gorilla.

What evidence is there that humans hunted giant lemurs?

Holes in teeth. An analysis of holes in Daubentonia Robusta teeth shows the holes were drilled by humans shortly after the animal's death. The fact that only giant species became extinct supports the theory that human activities contributed to giant lemur extinctions...

Which of these lemurs is nocturnal?

Aye aye. Am I obsessed with aye-ayes? Yes.

Aside from lemurs, there are two main groups of prosimians. One of them is:

Tarsiformes. The other is Lorsiformes. Didelphimorphids are oppossums, the other two groups are monkeys.

Which of these are actually lemurs?

Dwarf lemurs. Tarsiers are a seperate group of prosimians. Flying lemurs are a group so distinct they have their own Order within Mammals, though they are thought to be bats' ancestors. I want a poison-dart lemur.

The ancestral lemur is thought to most closely resemble which current lemur family?

Cheirogalidae. Actually some debate exists about the placement of Daubentonidae. But the ancestral lemur supposedly was small and mouse-like, like the dwarf lemurs and mouse lemurs.

Which lemur has only a vestigial tail?

Indri.

Which Monty Python made a movie about lemurs?

John Cleese. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. Gilliam did 12 Monkeys, the others are primate-deficient.

Which of these is, evolutionarily speaking, closest to being a monkey?

you. Lemurs and other prosimians (including the potto) are a different sub-order from apes, monkeys, and people. I hate it when people call lemurs 'monkeys'.

What sub-order are lemurs part of?

Strepsirhini.

Enough taxonomy. If you put the following primates in a death-match, which would win?

Gibbon. Gibbons are apes, much larger and stronger than these others. Poor, poor lemurs...

Which science fiction writer traveled to Madagascar and wrote about the aye-aye?

Douglas Adams. Madagascar was only one of Adams' destinations for the book 'Last Chance to See' (highly recommended). Asimov wrote so much, indubitably he wrote *something* about lemurs, but I doubt he ever went to Madagascar.

Which lemurs are considered Endangered (listed in Appendix 1 of CITES)?

all. Give yourself a point if you put 'most', since a few lemurs are now only 'Vulnerable' according to IUCN's red book (1996).

Which lemurs might you see at your local zoo?

Ring-tailed lemurs. Duke University Primate Center has the only diademed or golden-crowned sifakas in captivity in the {world;} the indri has never been successfully kept in captivity.

Which of these can an aye-aye *not* do?

burrow underground.

In the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey, Kubrick's daughter asks for which prosimian for her birthday?

bush baby.

Which of the following mammals eats lemurs?

fossa. Some Malagasy people, and some foreigners, have also been reported to eat lemurs.

Which of these scientists has studied lemurs?

Pat Wright. The others are most famous for studying: Orang utans - {Galdikas;} gorillas - {Fossey;} chimpanzees - Goodall