Ring Tailed Lemur

Ring tailed lemurs gained their name because of the alternating black and white bands on their tails, each lemur should have 26 individual bands; they use their tail to keep in touch and to signal to each other. Ring tailed lemurs are very sociable, living in large family groups of up to 30 individuals in which the females are dominant, a trait shared with other species of lemurs.

Ring tailed lemurs sunbathe to warm themselves on morning, sitting upright with their pale white underside facing towards the sun and arms and legs outstretched. To reaffirm social bonds and to keep warm lemurs huddle together and form lemur balls.

During mating season male lemurs engage in ‘stink fights’ using their long tails coated in smelly secretions from their glands. They waft their tails towards each other and in the air to try and determine which individual is the smelliest and therefore most dominant. Dominant males will breed with numerous females.