Meet Our Animals

The Brandywine Zoo proves that great things do come in small packages. The Zoo features animals from the tropical and temperate areas of North and South America, Asia and Africa. Our animals range from more common species to the highly endangered. All enjoy natural settings and welcome your visit to the zoo. Some animals may be off exhibit during cold weather.

Lemur catta

Ring-tailed Lemur

Habitat

Continuous canopy forests, bush and scrub forests (‘spiny forest’), and mixed forests.

Geographic Region & Range

Lemurs are only found in Madagascar. Ring-tailed lemurs live in the Southern and Southwestern areas of the island.

Diet

Fruits, leaves, flowers, seeds, sap, invertebrates, small vertebrates, dirt from termite mounds, etc.

Physical Description

Gray body with white bellies faces with a black “mask.” Their tail has 13 alternating bands of black and white.

Lifespan

Natural Habitat: 19 years
Under Human Care: Longer in human care

Threats

Ring-tailed lemur populations have declined more than 95% since 2000. They are threatened by deforestation-caused by agriculture, mainly slash-and-burn- and additionally from hunting for bushmeat, and the pet trade. Madagascar is an extremely impoverished country with many humanitarian issues which make wildlife conservation a challenge unless these issues are also addressed.

Status

Endangered

What are AZA Zoos doing for

Ring-tailed Lemur

Their zoo population is managed through conservation breeding programs called Species Survival Plan programs, which ensures genetic diversity and species health. There are over 500 individuals ring-tailed lemurs at 100+ AZA-accredited facilities. AZA zoos fund and participate in field research focusing on the ecology of lemurs in Madagascar, the health of wild populations, genetics, training local residents in lemur protection strategies, and partnering with conservation organizations.

Fun Facts

Ring-tailed lemurs are the most terrestrial of all lemur species, spending sometimes as much as 40-50% of their time on the ground.

Unlike most other primates, lemurs are matriarchal- this means they live in female-dominate societies.

Ring-tailed lemurs live in some of the largest social groups of all lemurs, sometimes up to 30-35 individuals in an extended family!

Males and females look almost identical, and both weigh in at an average of 5 pounds!

Maki is the name for ring-tailed lemurs in Malagasy.

Ring-tailed Lemur

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