Animals On Earth: India, Asia, China, Hawaii, And Madagascar

Ring Tailed Lemur

The ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species.

The cute outward appearance of the ring-tailed lemur, along with their inquisitive nature when viewed in captivity, may give them the illusion of being friendly; however, they are wild animals and can be territorial, protective, and aggressive, especially in the wild where they do not encounter humans regularly.

It's an easy mistake to think lemurs are monkeys. They have many things in common. Both belong to the primate order which is made up of 'monkeys', 'prosimians' and 'apes'. Lemurs are prosimians which literally means 'before monkeys'.

Ring-tailed lemurs are omnivores and eat a variety of plants and meat. The majority of their food comes from vegetation belonging to the tamarind family. They eat leaves, flowers, fruits, and eat insects, small reptiles, and small birds when the fruit is out of season.

Lemurs have a second tongue—called the "sublingua"—that is used to remove debris from the tooth comb. The sublingua is smaller than the primary tongue, sits below it and lacks taste buds.

Because of its geographic isolation, Madagascar is home to many amazing animals found nowhere else on Earth. Lemurs may have floated there eons ago on "rafts" of vegetation and evolved in isolation over countless centuries.