There are about 100 species of lemur and they all live on Madagascar.  This is the 4th largest island in the world and is about the size of France.  Still, being the only location for ALL 100-ish species of lemur seems odd.  Right?  Well, not really.

Around 50 million years ago, lemurs began evolving on Madagascar, which did not have any predators to threaten them.  Their main predator, the fossa, did not arrive for another 30 million years.  This situation allowed the lemurs to spread across the island and fill a wide variety of niches.  Each group evolved adaptations needed to survive in whatever biome they called home.  This resulted in each one having a unique diet, appearance, and general habits.  For example, some lemurs are nocturnal while others are diurnal.

You can see the five families above, but here is how they differ-

• Daubentoniidae– This is the Aye-Aye, which is nocturnal and uses a long finger to get insects out of trees. (1 species)
• Lemuridae– These are the diurnal ‘true lemur’s, which include ring-tails, ruffed, and brown.  They are called ‘true lemurs’ because they are considered the most typical and recognizable species.  In other words, the most popular. (21 species)
• Indriidae– The largest lemurs such as Indri and Sifaka.  These are known to be big leapers. (19 species)
• Cheirogaleidae– These are the mouse and dwarf lemurs, which are small and nocturnal.  Due to their size, they are completely arboreal (live in trees) unlike the larger species that can go on the ground. (42 species)
• Lepilemuridae– Called the medium-sized ‘sportive lemurs’, which are nocturnal and lack upper incisors.  They get the name from being able to leap up to 13 feet and take a ‘boxing stance’ when threatened. (26 species) 

This is why I could never comfortably do a post on lemurs because there are so many.  I could never find a category that would fit in a post.  That’s fine though because the overall situation with lemurs is just as interesting.  Every species has a niche in their environment instead of overlapping.  They are a species that came to Madagascar and filled all of nature’s holes instead of destroying the place.  Now, they are perfectly part of the overall enviroment.

So, just enjoy some videos of them: