Animal Diversity Web

Di­ver­sity

The genus Eu­le­mur, also known as brown lemurs, con­tains 8 known ex­tant species: red-bel­lied lemurs (Eu­le­mur rubriven­ter), mon­goose lemurs (Eu­le­mur mon­goz), crowned lemurs (Eu­le­mur coro­na­tus), gray-headed lemurs (Eu­le­mur cinere­i­ceps), brown lemurs (Eu­le­mur ful­vus), black lemurs (Eu­le­mur macaco), red-fronted lemurs (Eu­le­mur rufus), red-col­lared lemurs (Eu­le­mur col­laris). There are 7 known sub­species in total, spread be­tween sev­eral species in the genus Eu­le­mur. Eu­le­mur species are one of sev­eral gen­era in the "true lemur" fam­ily, Lemuri­dae. Lemurs are con­sid­ered a part of the sub­or­der Strep­sir­rhini, within the order Pri­mates. (An­i­malia Au­thors, 2022)

Ge­o­graphic Range

Lemurs (fam­ily Lemuri­dae) are en­demic to Mada­gas­car and are the only pri­mate group pre­sent on the is­land. Two species in the genus Eu­le­mur, mon­goose lemurs (Eu­le­mur mon­goz) and com­mon brown lemurs (E. ful­vus), are also found in the Co­moro Is­lands, al­though they were most likely in­tro­duced by hu­mans. Ev­i­dence sug­gests that an­ces­tral pri­mates of the sub­or­der Strep­sir­rhini ranged across what is cur­rently North Amer­ica, Eu­rope, Asia, and Africa. How­ever, com­pe­ti­tion with other pri­mates drove many species to ex­tinc­tion. Other ex­tant mem­bers of the sub­or­der Strep­sir­rhini are found in parts of Asia and Africa, but lemurs are only na­tive to Mada­gas­car. (Markolf and Kap­peler, 2013; Rowe and Dono­hue, 2022; Win­kler, 2008)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oceanic islands
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Brown lemur species are found through­out Mada­gas­car. Al­though they pri­mar­ily live in rain­forests and dry de­cid­u­ous forests, they are also pre­sent in mon­tane areas and wet­lands. Two species in the genus Eu­le­mur also live on is­lands be­tween Mada­gas­car and main­land Africa. Mon­goose lemurs (Eu­le­mur mon­goz) are found on Mwali and Nzwani, in the Co­moros arch­i­pel­ago, and com­mon brown lemurs (Eu­le­mur ful­vus) are found in the May­otte arch­i­pel­ago. It is sus­pected that lemurs were in­tro­duced to these is­lands by hu­mans. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011; Win­kler, 2008)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest
• scrub forest
• mountains

Sys­tem­atic and Tax­o­nomic His­tory

There have been many de­bates re­gard­ing the num­ber of species that be­long in the "true lemur" fam­ily, Lemuri­dae, as op­posed to other fam­i­lies in the su­per­fam­ily Lemuroidea.The true lemur fam­ily com­prises five ex­tant gen­era: bam­boo lemurs and gen­tle lemurs (Ha­pale­mur), greater bam­boo lemurs (Pro­le­mur), ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur), ruffed lemurs and var­ie­gated lemurs (Vare­cia), and brown lemurs (Eu­le­mur). There is on­go­ing de­bate re­gard­ing the or­ga­ni­za­tion of species within the genus Eu­le­mur and the fam­ily Lemuri­dae. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011)

• Synapomorphies

  • Large bushy tails
  • Reflective layer behind retina
  • Moist, hairless tip of muzzle
  • Non-invasive placenta
  • Forward facing lower incisors
  • "Toilet claw" on second toe of foot

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Brown lemurs may have gray, black, brown, or red­dish col­oration, often with a mix of sev­eral shades or dif­fer­ent col­ors. Brown lemurs gen­er­ally have elon­gated snouts, curved nos­trils, large eyes, and tufts of fur on their ears. Sev­eral species have lighter col­oration and/or longer fur on their cheeks and chins. Brown lemurs have long dig­its, long hind legs, wooly fur, and bushy tails that are often longer than the length of their bod­ies. Most species are be­tween 2 and 3 kg in body mass and ex­hibit lit­tle no­tice­able sex­ual di­mor­phism, al­though males gen­er­ally have more scent glands. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011; The Ed­i­tors of En­cy­clopae­dia Bri­tan­nica, 2019)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

Re­pro­duc­tion

Many brown lemur species are monog­a­mous, though some species ex­hibit both polyg­y­nous and polyg­y­nan­drous re­pro­duc­tive be­hav­ior. Brown lemurs do not ex­hibit sex­ual di­mor­phism, and it is sus­pected that males do not com­pete for mates by phys­i­cal con­fronta­tion. Rather, sperm com­pe­ti­tion is im­por­tant in polyg­y­nous and polyg­y­nan­drous species. Males gen­er­ally have more de­vel­oped scent glands com­pared to fe­males, which sug­gests the pheromones they re­lease play a role in sex­ual se­lec­tion. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011; Grebe, et al., 2021)

• Mating System
• monogamous
• polygynous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Most brown lemur species have short mat­ing pe­ri­ods - usu­ally around 3 weeks per year. Fe­males only enter es­trus for a few days an­nu­ally. Fur­ther­more, brown lemurs often avoid mat­ing when food sup­plies are lim­ited. As a re­sult, brown lemur pop­u­la­tion growth rates are gen­er­ally slow. (Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• viviparous

Brown lemurs have an av­er­age ges­ta­tion pe­riod of 54 to 135 days, de­pend­ing on the species. Most species give birth to 1 or 2 off­spring at a time. New­born brown lemurs are al­tri­cial and highly de­pen­dent on their moth­ers for sev­eral years. Fe­males carry their young on their chests for the first few days, until the young are strong enough to cling to the backs of their moth­ers. Fe­males nurse their young for around two years, at which point the young have de­vel­oped mo­lars and tran­si­tion to solid foods. The time at which ju­ve­nile brown lemurs are fully weaned usu­ally co­in­cides with times of the year when food is most plen­ti­ful. While fe­males demon­strate ex­tended parental care, males ex­hibit lit­tle parental care be­yond the act of mat­ing. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011; Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The av­er­age lifes­pan of wild brown lemurs is 25 to 35 years. Some species have been re­ported to live up to 40 years in cap­tiv­ity. In the wild, the high­est rates of mor­tal­ity are in new­borns and ju­ve­niles, al­though adults are still at risk of pre­da­tion and ill­ness. (Camp­bell, et al., 2011)

Be­hav­ior

Al­though some brown lemur species live in pairs, most species live in groups with up to 15 in­di­vid­u­als, both males and fe­males. Typ­i­cally, fe­males have dom­i­nant roles in the group so­cial struc­ture. Within their groups, brown lemurs are highly so­cial, ex­hibit­ing be­hav­iors such as so­cial for­ag­ing, food shar­ing, and al­logroom­ing. Often, in­di­vid­u­als higher in the so­cial hi­er­ar­chy get groomed first. Brown lemurs also fight and ex­hibit other ag­gres­sive be­hav­iors, both within groups and be­tween groups. Some species have been ob­served mourn­ing the loss of young, and many stud­ies have noted brown lemurs ex­hibit­ing var­i­ous emo­tional states. Some species have also been ob­served pur­posely eat­ing mil­li­pedes to com­bat gas­troin­testi­nal par­a­sites. Most brown lemurs are pri­mar­ily ar­bo­real, spend­ing most of their time in the trees for­ag­ing for plant ma­te­r­ial and in­sects. How­ever, some species spend more time on the ground com­pared to oth­ers. De­pend­ing on the species, brown lemurs may be di­ur­nal, noc­tur­nal, or cre­pus­cu­lar. (Kap­peler and Fich­tel, 2016; Lemur World Au­thors, 2022; Ossi and Kami­lar, 2006)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• terricolous
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• colonial
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Brown lemurs have large ears and eyes, which help them de­tect preda­tors. They rely heav­ily on vi­sual and chem­i­cal stim­uli while for­ag­ing. They have binoc­u­lar vi­sion, trichro­matic vi­sion, and a well-de­vel­oped sense of smell. These adap­ta­tions help them nav­i­gate in the trees and de­tect fruit and in­sect prey. Brown lemurs com­mu­ni­cate with each other using vi­sual, acoustic, chem­i­cal, and phys­i­cal cues. They pro­duce a range of species-spe­cific vo­cal­iza­tions to com­mu­ni­cate with mem­bers of their group or other groups. For in­stance, moth­ers often make purring sounds to their young, and most species use grunt­ing noises as a form of friendly com­mu­ni­ca­tion or to com­mu­ni­cate dur­ing breed­ing pe­ri­ods. Fur­ther­more, most brown lemurs use high-pitched screams to warn oth­ers of dan­ger or to com­mu­ni­cate ter­ri­to­r­ial bound­aries, and they make me­ow­ing sounds to call other group mem­bers to a cen­tral lo­ca­tion. Brown lemurs also use chem­i­cal sig­nals to mark ter­ri­tory and com­mu­ni­cate with po­ten­tial mates. Both sexes have scent glands that they use to mark ob­jects in their en­vi­ron­ment. Brown lemurs com­mu­ni­cate ag­gres­sion vi­su­ally using spe­cific body lan­guage and eye con­tact. They also ex­hibit phys­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, often groom­ing other group mem­bers to strengthen so­cial bonds. (Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Most brown lemur species feed pri­mar­ily on nuts and fruits, al­though they also eat other plant ma­te­r­ial, such as leaves, flow­ers, and nec­tar. When these food sources are scarce, brown lemurs will also eat in­sects or small an­i­mals, such as birds, rep­tiles, and their eggs. Dur­ing pe­ri­ods of low food avail­abil­ity, brown lemurs can re­duce their meta­bolic rates to con­serve en­ergy. When food is plen­ti­ful, they may eat so much that they dou­ble in body mass. Food com­pe­ti­tion is com­mon within and be­tween brown lemur so­cial groups. In­di­vid­u­als typ­i­cally hunt for their own food, but dom­i­nant fe­males have some con­trol over the eat­ing habits of other group mem­bers. When there are lim­ited food sources, all in­di­vid­u­als in a group tend to eat less. (Lemur World Au­thors, 2022; Sato, et al., 2016)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates
  • eats eggs
  • insectivore
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore
  • granivore
  • nectarivore
• omnivore

Pre­da­tion

The pri­mary nat­ural preda­tors of brown lemur species are fos­sas (Cryp­to­procta ferox) and birds of prey, such as Mada­gas­car ser­pent ea­gles (Eu­tri­orchis astur) and Mada­gas­car har­rier-hawks (Poly­boroides ra­dia­tus). Mada­gas­car har­rier-hawks are ac­tive at night and often prey on young lemurs. Human (Homo sapi­ens) hunt­ing prac­tices are also a large pre­da­tion threat to brown lemurs.

Brown lemurs often live in so­cial groups, which pro­vide them some pro­tec­tion from pre­da­tion. They pro­duce alarm calls to warn con­specifics of threats, or to re­cruit other group mem­bers to a cen­tral lo­ca­tion. Brown lemurs also ex­hibit mob­bing be­hav­iors, work­ing to­gether to deter preda­tors. Lemurs have also been re­ported to use tools, such as sticks and rocks, to fight off preda­tors. (An­i­malia Au­thors, 2022; Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• Known Predators

  • Fossas (Cryptoprocta ferox)
  • Madagascar harrier-hawks (Polyboroides radiatus)
  • Madagascar serpent eagles (Eutriorchis astur)
  • Humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Brown lemur species serve as prey for mam­malian car­ni­vores and birds of prey. They also serve as her­bi­vores and preda­tors of in­sects and small an­i­mals. Be­cause much of their diet con­sists of fruits and nuts, brown lemurs act as seed dis­persers for many plant species. Brown lemurs have large home ranges, so they are ca­pa­ble of dis­pers­ing seeds long dis­tances, and some seeds live longer and ger­mi­nate faster after pass­ing through lemur di­ges­tive sys­tems. Some brown lemur species are partly nec­tariv­o­rous, and thus play a role in plant pol­li­na­tion. Be­cause of their roles as plant pol­li­na­tors and seed dis­persers, brown lemurs have mu­tu­al­is­tic re­la­tion­ships with many plant species. They also have a mu­tu­al­is­tic re­la­tion­ship with their in­testi­nal flora, which helps them fur­ther process plant ma­te­r­ial after in­ges­tion. Brown lemurs serve as hosts for ec­topar­a­sites, such as ticks and mites, and en­dopar­a­sites, in­clud­ing sev­eral groups of par­a­sitic worms. (Bar­rett, 2013; Camp­bell, et al., 2011; Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds
• pollinates

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Brown lemurs are pol­li­na­tors and seed dis­persers, and thus play a vital role in main­tain­ing the health of forests. For­est ecosys­tems pro­vide local and global human com­mu­ni­ties with sources of food, med­i­cine, eco­tourism, and many other ben­e­fits. Brown lemurs also play a role in con­trol­ling in­sect pests, which ben­e­fits human agri­cul­tural prac­tices and pub­lic health. Re­search on lemur be­hav­ior and health may also have im­por­tant im­pli­ca­tions for human be­hav­ior and med­i­cine, as lemurs are pri­mates and share some sim­i­lar­i­ties with hu­mans and other pri­mates. Brown lemurs are part of the il­le­gal pet trade mar­ket, and ben­e­fit Mala­gasy economies as a source of eco­tourism. Be­cause lemurs are charis­matic, some tourists come to Mada­gas­car specif­i­cally to see them in the wild. (An­i­malia Au­thors, 2022; Camp­bell, et al., 2011)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• ecotourism
• research and education
• produces fertilizer
• pollinates crops
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are con­ser­va­tion mea­sures in place to pro­tect brown lemurs that re­duce the po­ten­tial prof­its of log­ging com­pa­nies. Brown lemurs can also bite or scratch hu­mans if they are kept as pets or ap­proached too closely in the wild. This can lead to in­fec­tion or the trans­mis­sion of dis­ease through saliva. Be­cause hu­mans and lemurs are pri­mates, the risk for dis­ease trans­mis­sion is rel­a­tively high. (An­i­malia Au­thors, 2022; Camp­bell, et al., 2011)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • carries human disease

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Brown lemurs, along with other gen­era in the fam­ily Lemuri­dae, are at high risk of ex­tinc­tion. Be­cause they have a lim­ited ge­o­graphic dis­tri­b­u­tion, habi­tat loss on the is­land of Mada­gas­car has a large neg­a­tive im­pact on their pop­u­la­tion sizes. De­for­esta­tion due to log­ging and agri­cul­tural prac­tices are be­com­ing more preva­lent in Mada­gas­car. They are also threat­ened by un­sus­tain­able hunt­ing prac­tices, and some local com­mu­ni­ties will kill brown lemurs be­cause they be­lieve some species to be bad spir­its. Ad­di­tion­ally, some tourists will hunt brown lemurs for sport. Al­though the Mada­gas­car gov­ern­ment cur­rently has laws against lemur hunt­ing, these laws are rarely en­forced. Habi­tat loss and poach­ing are par­tic­u­larly harm­ful to brown lemurs be­cause they have slow pop­u­la­tion growth rates. Brown lemur fe­males only enter es­trus for a few days out of the year, and will forego re­pro­duc­tion when habi­tat con­di­tions are poor, as is the case in de­vel­oped areas. Fur­ther­more, brown lemurs give birth to a max­i­mum of two off­spring at a time and ju­ve­niles are highly de­pen­dent on their moth­ers for sev­eral years after birth. There are sev­eral or­ga­ni­za­tions pro­mot­ing lemur con­ser­va­tion, such as the "Save Lemur Cam­paign" in Mada­gas­car and the "Lemur Con­ser­va­tion Foun­da­tion" in the United States. These or­ga­ni­za­tions pro­mote cap­tive breed­ing pro­grams, con­ser­va­tion ed­u­ca­tion, and lob­by­ing against habi­tat de­struc­tion and poach­ing. (Lemur World Au­thors, 2022)

• IUCN Red List [Link]

  Not Evaluated

Con­trib­u­tors

Vi­vian Strout (au­thor), Col­orado State Uni­ver­sity, Galen Bur­rell (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

An­i­malia Au­thors, 2022. "Eu­le­mur" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​animalia.​bio/​eulemur?​page=1.

Bar­rett, B. 2013. "PAR­A­SITES OF MADA­GAS­CAR'S LEMURS EX­PAND­ING WITH CLI­MATE CHANGE" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 20, 2022 at https://​today.​duke.​edu/​2013/​01/​barrettindiri#:​~:text=The%20team%20­fo­cused%20on%20six,weight%20loss%20in%20hu­man%20hosts.

Camp­bell, C., A. Fuentes, K. MacK­in­non, S. Bearder, R. Stumpf. 2011. Pri­mates in Per­spec­tive. New York: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.

Grebe, N., A. Sharma, S. Free­man, M. Palumbo, H. Pati­saul, K. Bales, C. Drea. 2021. "Neural cor­re­lates of mat­ing sys­tem di­ver­sity: oxy­tocin and va­so­pressin re­cep­tor dis­tri­b­u­tions in monog­a­mous and non-monog­a­mous Eu­le­mur" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​www.​nature.​com/​articles/​s41598-021-83342-6.

Kap­peler, P. 1993. "Sex­ual Se­lec­tion and Lemur So­cial Sys­tems" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 13, 2022 at https://​link.​springer.​com/​chapter/​10.​1007/​978-1-4899-2412-4_​16.

Kap­peler, P., C. Fich­tel. 2016. "The Evo­lu­tion of Eu­le­mur So­cial Or­ga­ni­za­tion" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​link.​springer.​com/​article/​10.​1007/​s10764-015-9873-x.

Lemur World Au­thors, 2022. "Lemur World" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 13, 2022 at https://​www.​lemurworld.​com/​.

Markolf, M., P. Kap­peler. 2013. "Phy­lo­geo­graphic analy­sis of the true lemurs (genus Eu­le­mur) un­der­lines the role of river catch­ments for the evo­lu­tion of mi­cro-en­demism in Mada­gas­car" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​frontiersinzoology.​biomedcentral.​com/​articles/​10.​1186/​1742-9994-10-70.

Ossi, K., J. Kami­lar. 2006. "En­vi­ron­men­tal and phy­lo­ge­netic cor­re­lates of Eu­le­mur be­hav­ior and ecol­ogy (Pri­mates: Lemuri­dae)" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​link.​springer.​com/​article/​10.​1007/​s00265-006-0236-7.

Pester, P. 2021. "Lemurs: A di­verse group of en­dan­gered pri­mates" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​www.​livescience.​com/​55276-lemurs.​html.

Rowe, A., M. Dono­hue. 2022. "Lemurs: Mada­gas­car's En­demic Pri­mates" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​www.​sciencedirect.​com/​science/​article/​pii/​B9780128211397000155.

Sato, H., L. San­tini, E. Patel, M. Campera, N. Ya­mashita, I. Colquhoun, G. Do­nati. 2016. "Di­etary Flex­i­bil­ity and Feed­ing Strate­gies of Eu­le­mur: A Com­par­i­son with Pro­p­ithe­cus" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​link.​springer.​com/​article/​10.​1007/​s10764-015-9877-6.

The Ed­i­tors of En­cy­clopae­dia Bri­tan­nica, 2019. "Lemur; Pri­mate Sub­or­der" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 13, 2022 at https://​www.​britannica.​com/​animal/​lemur-primate-suborder.

Win­kler, S. 2008. "Why do Lemurs only live in Mada­gas­car?" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 20, 2022 at https://​animals.​howstuffworks.​com/​mammals/​lemurs-live-in-madagascar.​htm.