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Introduction to LemursOver the past 15 years we have been gaining increased recognition for our work to preserve some of the most fascinating of the primitive Primates - the Lemurs of Madagascar. Our first lemurs arrived at the Isle of Wight Zoo in 1990 as part of a European breeding programme. In 2002 we developed Lemur land to highlight the plight of these rare and special animals. Currently we have four species of lemur living here. These primitive primates, known as prosimians, evolved before the more highly developed simians, the monkeys and apes, so lemurs have their own personal characteristics. The most obvious difference is the small head, pointed muzzle and wet, dog-like nose. This provides them with a much better sense of smell than we possess, since vision is the dominant sense in the flat-faced primates. They do not have fully opposable thumbs and cannot use their hands for grooming. Instead their bottom teeth project outwards instead of being upright like monkeys and apes. They use these teeth as a dental comb for grooming their fur as well as scraping gum off the bark of trees. Where they are unable to reach for grooming, for example around their head and the upper part of their body, they grow a 'toilet claw' on their index toe. They have nails on the rest of their toes and fingers. Lemurs are also the only primates that can purr, sounding just like kittens when contented. Find out more about our work to conserve Lemurs in our conservation & research section. Lemur Subspecies at the Zoo: Black Lemur White-Fronted Brown Lemur Black & White Ruffed Lemur Ring-Tailed Lemur |
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