Ring-tailed lemur
Lemur catta
Seen by the oracleIts power
It warms itself in the sun sitting cross-legged, arms spread wide, and settles its quarrels with swipes of its scented tail.
Estimated wild population
Fewer than 10,000 adults (sharp decline since 2000)
Trend
Rapidly declining
Range
South and southwest Madagascar
Main threat
Deforestation in Madagascar, hunting, the pet trade
Meet it
It really exists. It is waiting for you at the Parc Animalier d’Auvergne.
The ring-tailed lemur is the best-known lemur, thanks to its long black-and-white ringed tail and its piercing yellow eyes. It is one of the few lemurs that spends a lot of time on the ground, in groups of 6 to 30 led by the females. In the morning, it sits facing the rising sun with its arms spread wide to soak up the warmth: scientists call this “basking”, a way of controlling its body temperature with the sun. It is threatened by heavy deforestation in Madagascar, by hunting and by the illegal pet trade, and its numbers have collapsed alarmingly since the 2000s.
What the Park does
Reserves in Madagascar, EEP programme, local awareness-raising