Social Behaviors of Ring-Tailed Lemurs

(Interactions Between Lemurs and Items that Resemble the

Species)By: Julia

Bumberry

Background

Ring-tailed lemurs are endemic to the island of

Madagascar

Ring-tailed lemurs are near threatened

Large strepsirhini primate

Average lifespan is 16-19 in wild and 27 in captivity

Background (cont.)

One of the most popular zoo animals

Extremely social animals and live in large groups

Very vocal with multiple calls

Scent marking is an important form of communication

Objectives

How will Ring-tailed lemurs interact with items that

resemble other ring-tailed lemurs?

Are Lemurs more likely to interact with something based

on whether it looks, smells, or sounds like another

lemur?

Methods Perform three tests:

Item that looks like a ring-tailed lemur

Item that has the scent of a ring-tailed lemur

Item that sounds like a ring-tailed lemur

Resources Possible field work cites:

Dickerson Park Zoo

Tulsa Zoo

St. Louis Zoo