Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs By Sierra

Introduction What has a nose like a rat, ears like a bat, and looks like a housecat? Females are a reddish brown, while males are completely black. They have long tales to swing tree from tree. Now just guess… what am I?

Description Blue-eyed black lemurs are more than two feet long. Males are black and females are a rusty brown and have fur. They look like a housecat with ears like a bat, a nose like a rat, and a long middle finger on both hands. They weigh almost five pounds.

Life Span Lemurs live twenty to twenty-five years. It is difficult to study lemurs in the wild because Madagascar is far away. Also, there are very few of them left. Because of this, specific details about lemurs are currently unknown.

Predator / Prey Blue-eyed black lemurs eat fruit, flowers, leaves, bark, insects, and tree gum. All the food is around them so they find it easily. Not many people know what kind of animals hunt them but we think fossas could hunt them. Nobody knows how they hide or escape but they would probably run or hide.

Protection To protect themselves they would run or hide. They protect the babies because they ride on their mother’s back. It is unknown how they take care of the older, sick, or injured members of their group.

Young Blue-eyed lemurs take care of their young for five to six months. Blue-eyed black lemurs cling to their mother’s bellies, shifting only to nurse. The special name for the babies is young.

Behavior They are active during the day. Depending on the season, blue-eyed black lemurs eat different things. During the rainy season they eat primarily fruit. During the dry season lemurs eat leaves, flowers, nectar and seeds. The animals mostly stay in trees in the wild.

Environment Blue-eyed black lemurs live in Madagascar. My animal needs to live in a rainforest, and it lives in trees.

Endangered A lot of Madagascar has been destroyed. If people stop destroying Madagascar’s rainforest it will help preserve the animals.

Other Interesting Facts Thirty-six kinds of lemurs are endangered. Fourteen others are extinct. Lemurs are related to monkeys and apes. Some lemurs can jump as far as thirty feet!

Conclusion I chose this particular animal because it sounded interesting to study about. I have learned how long they live. I know what they eat and how they find it. We can help save this animal by stop destroying the rainforest of Madagascar!

Bibliography Anderson, Norman D. Lemurs. New York: Dodd Mead, Banks, Joan. “Lemurs.” Jan/Feb2002. Accessed on 9/18/ Current Science. “Lemurs Going Going…?” 9/10/99. Accessed on 9/18/ Duke University. “Lemur Center.” Accessed on 9/18/ National Geographic. Book of Mammals. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 1981.