Eastern woolly lemur

The eastern woolly lemur (Avahi laniger), also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to eastern Madagascar, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern coast of the island or they can also inhabit the northern tip of the island with other species.[4] The woolly lemur name refers to their thick, tightly-curled hair, whereas their generic name avahi refers to their high-pitched defensive call. The eastern woolly lemur almost has an owl-look with its large eyes, small rounded head, and ears that are mostly hidden.[5] This nocturnal animal weighs 1.0–1.3 kg and reaches a length of 27–29 cm with a tail of 33–37 cm. Its diet consists mainly of leaves and buds with fruits, flowers, and bark.

Eastern woolly lemur
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Indriidae
Genus: Avahi
Species:
A. laniger
Binomial name
Avahi laniger
Gmelin, 1788[3]
Distribution of A. laniger[1]
Synonyms
  • avahi van der Hoeven, 1844
  • lanatus Wagner, 1840
  • longicaudatus E. Geoffroy, 1796
  • orientalis von Lorenz-Liburnau, 1898

Eastern woolly lemurs live in monogamous pairs together with their offspring. The eastern woolly lemur's breeding season ranges from March to May with the baby lemurs being born around August to September.[6]

Other lemur species that live in the same rainforests as eastern woolly lemur are the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) and the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer). In southeastern rainforests, sympatric lemur species of A. meridionalis are the brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus), the greater dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus major), the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius) and the collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris) in Sainte Luce Forest, and the southern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis) in Mandena Forest.

According to the study conducted in "Diet and Behaviour of a Nocturnal Lemur, Avahi Laniger, in the Wild" (1991), a male lemur rarely interacts with more than one other individual when sleeping, traveling or grooming. At night, he would spend about 40% of the time with his partner either grooming or resting.[7]


As of right now, the Eastern Woolly Lemurs still continue to exist; however, based on another study conducted in "Distribution and Geographic Variation in the Western Woolly Lemur" (YEAR), it is revealed that the entire Lemur population might be endangered if the forests continues to "disappear at a disastrous rate".[8] This could be due to many reasons, for example deforestation and forest degradation.

References
  1. Patel, E. (2020). "Avahi laniger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T2434A115559557. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  2. "Checklist of CITES Species". CITES. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  3. Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  4. Andriantompohavana, R.; Randriamanana, J. C.; Sommer, J. A.; Brenneman, R. A.; Louis, E. E. (September 2004). "Characterization of 22 microsatellite loci developed from the genome of the Woolly Lemur (Avahi laniger)". Molecular Ecology Notes. 4 (3): 400–403. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2004.00665.x.
  5. "Eastern Woolly Lemur Photos and Facts." Arkive. Wildscreen Arkive, n.d. Web. 02 May 2017. <http://www.arkive.org/eastern-woolly-lemur/avahi-laniger/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605120001/http://www.arkive.org/eastern-woolly-lemur/avahi-laniger/ |date=2017-06-05 }}>.
  6. Ehler, Pam. "Avahi Laniger (avahi)." Animal Diversity Web. N.p., 2002. Web. 02 May 2017. <http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Avahi_laniger/>.
  7. Harcourt, Caroline (April 1991). "Diet and behaviour of a nocturnal lemur, Avahi laniger, in the wild". Journal of Zoology. 223 (4): 667–674. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04395.x.
  8. Thalmann, Urs; Geissmann, Thomas (December 2000). "Distribution and geographic variation in the western woolly lemur (Avahi occidentalis) with description of a new species (A. unicolor)". Springer Link. doi:10.1023/A:1005507028567. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
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