BAMBOO LEMUR: Story of a mysterious and critically endangered species

#travel #wild #life #lemur #bamboo #lemur #endangered #mysterious #extinct
Prosimians, the oldest group of primates, include lemurs as a unique subspecies. "Before the monkeys" is what the word signifies. A prosimian's eyes are located in the front of its face, which improves its vision and sense of control. Large eyes help lemurs hunt better in the dark; these animals only venture out at night. For assistance with their nocturnal activity, they also have large ears and unique smell glands. Their backs are covered in pale orange fur, with guard hairs that range from brown to gray and yellowish undersides. They have a black face with golden cheeks, eyebrows, throat, short hairy ears, and a short muzzle. Generally speaking, the men and females have identical appearances, with females often being slightly more grayish on their backs. An adult lemur's length is about 30 to 45 centimeters and usually lives 12 to 23 years. An adult lemur weighs about 1 to 2 kilograms. Golden bamboo lemurs are herbivores and eat mostly new shoots, leaf bases, and bamboo grasses, particularly creepers of the Madagascan giant bamboo. Bamboo lemurs have a specialized bamboo diet and are the world’s only primates with this diet. Each Golden bamboo lemur adult eats around 500 g (18 oz) of bamboo each day, which contains cyanide of about 12 times more than a lethal dose for most animals of this size. The Golden bamboo lemur has evolved with a resistance to the extreme levels of cyanide in the leaves of the young bamboo that it eats.

Its habitat degradation from burning and slashing agriculture and the harvesting of bamboo for local purposes (e.g., building houses, carrying water, weaving baskets) pose the biggest threats to its existence. In certain places, food hunting may potentially be a concern. Its distribution is patchy, and it usually occurs at low population densities. It is known to occur in only two national parks (Andringitra and Ranomafana), and its population size is likely less than 650 individuals (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989; Sterling and Ramaroson, 1996). It has been suggested that the Ranomafana / Andringitra forest corridor be designated as a conservation unit in tandem with initiatives to reestablish and multiply bamboo species stands that provide food for this species.

#travel #wild #life #lemur #bamboo #lemur #endangered #mysterious #extinct