Gray-backed sportive lemur pictures and facts

The Gray-backed Sportive Lemur (Lepilemur dorsalis) resides in the country of Madagascar. It a gray with white black in color with a yellowish color belly. This lemur is not very big weighing roughly 1 to 2.5 lbs and their tail is approximately 9.8 to 12 inches (24.8cm - 30.4cm) long. They are able to climb and hang from trees either by their arms or their tails which they curl around a branch like a knot.

'Lemur' means ghost or spirit in latin, and is very appropriate due to their spooky look with their big eyes and little ears. Lemurs reside only in Madagascar and no other countries and have a very unique and distinctive look.

Almost ninety percent of the rainforest has been destroyed by loggers, endangering the gray-backed sportive lemur's existence as well as all the species of lemurs. Some lemurs are killed by superstitious people who are frightened by their eerie look. Sometimes this species is hunted for food when there is nothing else to eat.

Males live alone in solitude and visit one or more females at night during mating season. Each female will give birth to only one offspring. Once the offspring is born, usually somewhere between September and November, the mother will leave the child on a branch tucked away while they rummage for food. The mother will call to the child sounding like a kiss and the child will make the same sound back so the mother is assured of its safety.

The gray-backed sportive lemur is primarily a leaf-eating species, but will eat fruit and bark to supplement the diet. They possess long tails and binocular vision to focus in on their territory and finding food. The lemur is a nocturnal animal and at night swings vertically from tree limb to tree limb leaping onto branches. The lemur re-ingests its feces which helps to break down the fiber in the leaves they eat. The gray-backed sportive lemur is a very territorial animal.

Picture of the Gray-backed Sportive Lemur by dalbera, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
license.