11/07/2025
This is my favorite photo of our 3 Ring-Tailed Lemur at Zoo. It was the closest one I got of all three looking in my direction. 🥰Their names Aislinn, Gizmo and Holy and are very social and in the wild live in troops. They are especially adorable when they huddle together!
Ring-tailed lemurs are hard to miss. They're named for their 2-feet-long tails, which have 13 alternating black and white rings. Like all lemurs, they're prosimians, a distinct suborder of the primate family, separate from monkeys and apes.
Ring-tailed lemurs weigh about 6 pounds. Because of the dry habitat they live in, ring-tailed lemurs can't afford to be picky eaters. They eat leaves, flowers, fruit and insects. They'll also eat caterpillars, birds, chameleons, and spider webs.
Ring-tailed lemurs raise their tails like flags to help keep the group together as they travel. They "talk" constantly, using at least 28 different calls. Like all lemurs, they also communicate by smell, using the scent glands on their wrists and chests.
Male ring-tailed lemurs in the troop fight with each over access to females. In "jump fights," they leap into the air and slash at each other with their sharp canine teeth. In "stink fights," they each put smell on their tails and wave them over their heads and glare at each other. Eventually one gives up and runs away.
Ring-tailed females usually give birth to one cub after a gestation of 4-5 months. If there's enough food to go around, she might give birth to twins. At first the cub clings to its mother's belly, then it rides on her back. It starts solid food after about a week, and stays with its mother for 5 or 6 weeks. The troop's females help raise all the cubs.
