Conservation Issues for Ring-tails

The biggest threat to ring-tailed lemurs in their native habitat of Madagascar is habitat loss. The forests that ring tails prefer are being converted into farmland. They are also hunted for food and frequently caught and sold for pets.

Cool Facts About Ring-tailed Lemurs:

• Social life: Sociable, group sizes of 3 - 25 animals, with females dominant to males. There are often multiple breeding females in one group.
• Life span: up to 35-40 yrs. in captivity and 20-25 yrs. in the wild.
• Gestation: 134-138 days
• Number of young: usually one, but occasionally twins.
• Habitat: deciduous thicket and thornscrub of Madagascar
• Diet: Fruit, leaves, flowers, herbs, and other plant parts, occasional insect and small vertebrate prey

Zoo babies with a story

It's birthing season for the ring-tailed lemurs and we currently have 4 newborns at the Indianapolis Zoo! Female lemurs cycle in Oct/Nov at different times, but are usually within one month of each other. So, the babies vary in age, from 6 weeks to 2 weeks. On lemur island you will see adult female, Sona, with her twins. One girl, one boy. Then you will also see adult female, Keeley, with two babies. One is her daughter, Kellen, and the other is a foster baby, Kearney. Keeley adopted the baby boy after he was rejected from his mother immediately following birth. She is feeding and stimulating him as if it were her own. Look for Keeley when you visit the zoo! You can tell her apart because one of her babies is bigger than the other!