Eastern woolly lemur


The eastern woolly lemur, also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to eastern Madagascar, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern coast of the island or they can also inhabit the northern tip of the island with other species. The woolly lemur name refers to their thick, tightly-curled hair, whereas their generic name avahi refers to their high-pitched defensive call. The eastern woolly lemur almost has an owl-look with its large eyes, small rounded head, and ears that are mostly hidden. This nocturnal animal weighs 1.0–1.3 kg and reaches a length of 27–29 cm with a tail of 33–37 cm. Its diet consists mainly of leaves and buds with fruits, flowers, and bark.
Eastern woolly lemurs live in monogamous pairs together with their offspring. The eastern woolly lemur's breeding season ranges from March to May with the baby lemurs being born around August to September.
Other lemur species that live in the same rainforests as eastern woolly lemur are the diademed sifaka and the red-bellied lemur. In southeastern rainforests, sympatric lemur species of A. meridionalis are the brown mouse lemur, the greater dwarf lemur, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur and the collared brown lemur in Sainte Luce Forest, and the southern lesser bamboo lemur in Mandena Forest.
According to the study conducted in "Diet and Behaviour of a Nocturnal Lemur, Avahi Laniger, in the Wild", a male lemur rarely interacts with more than one other individual when sleeping, traveling or grooming. At night, he would spend about 40% of the time with his partner either grooming or resting.