Lemurs, unique primates endemic to Madagascar, exhibit a remarkable diversity in their dietary habits. This article explores the various aspects of lemur diets, from their general feeding behaviors to the specific adaptations that allow them to thrive in their island home.
Lemurs: Unique Primates of Madagascar
Lemurs are prosimians, a group of primates that evolved before monkeys and apes. These fascinating creatures are more primitive than their simian cousins but share certain characteristics. Today, there are over 100 identified lemur species, nearly all of which live on the isolated island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Their lemur-like primate ancestor is thought to have rafted over to Madagascar from Africa around 60 million years ago.
If you were unfamiliar with lemurs, you might find yourself guessing that they are related to cats, squirrels, mice, or even dogs. Lemurs are generally small in size, and their faces somewhat resemble a mouse’s face in smaller species or a fox’s face in larger species. Many lemur species have a snout, and all have a wet and hairless nose with curved nostrils, which is unique among primates and makes them superior sniffers. Their tail is not prehensile and varies in length, depending on the species. Lemurs range greatly in size from the mouse lemurs to the indri. Lemurs have bright round eyes and soft fur that varies in color, depending on the species. The most common lemur colors are white, gray, black, brown, and red-brown. In some species, males and females have different coloring.
General Feeding Behaviors
With over 100 identified lemur species living on the large island of Madagascar, diets are going to look different both from one habitat to another and from one species to another. Lemurs are experts at niche specialization, meaning that they adapt to a particular role in the ecosystem to avoid competition from other species. Most lemur species can be classified as opportunistic omnivores, meaning that they will eat a wide variety of foods and take advantage of easy food resources when possible.
Lemurs are known to consume a wide variety of food items, including fruit, leaves, insects, and small vertebrates. Most lemur species are opportunistic omnivores, eating whatever food they can find. However, they can also be picky eaters.
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The diet of lemurs varies among species. Lemurs living in social groups take their lead from the dominant female. She decides where and when the group will move. In between eating and resting, lemurs may spend their time sunbathing or grooming each other.
Dietary Components
The main diet of lemurs is based on foods available within Madagascar’s 228,900 square miles. Luckily, there are plenty of fruit, woody plants, and insects for these big-eyed animals to enjoy during the wet season. Lemurs eat bamboo, bird eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, insects, leaves, lianas (woody vines), pollen, sap, seeds, shrubs, tree bark, and small vertebrates like mice. Primates are fruit-lovers, and lemurs are no exception.
- Fruits: Many lemur species are frugivorous, with fruit making up a significant portion of their diet. For example, red ruffed lemurs love fruit, which makes up 75-95% of their diet. As diurnal frugivores, ring-tailed lemurs spend most of their time during the day foraging for fruit.
- Leaves: Some lemurs are folivores, specializing in leaf-eating. Sifaka species are primarily folivores: leaf-eating specialists that require high levels of fiber in their diet. The Coquerel’s sifaka eats over 100 different leaf species and has a long intestinal tract that allows time for these tough leaves to break down in their gut and provide them with the nutrients they need.
- Insects: Several lemur species are insectivorous, relying on insects as a primary food source. The aye-aye is mainly an insectivore, savoring a lot of insects in its diet. Grey Mouse Lemurs are insectivores that seem to love beetles more than any other bug.
- Nectar: Some lemurs also suck the nectar out of flowers. Because pollen sticks to their long, furry snouts, they carry it from plant to plant, serving as important pollinators.
Specific Lemur Species and Their Diets
Different species of lemurs have at least slightly different diets.
- Aye-Aye: The aye-aye is covered in coarse, black hair with white tips. It has a long, bushy tail and large radar-like ears. Its large incisor teeth are like a rodent’s in that they never stop growing. The aye-aye has a specialized middle finger adapted for finding and pulling out grubs. This specialized finger is very thin and bare. It fits in small holes that the aye-aye has gnawed. Aye-ayes are percussive foragers that feed on insects and larvae living inside tree trunks. Their powerful teeth and flexible fingers allow them to extract these hidden snacks from the wood where other animals can’t get to them, giving aye-ayes an advantage.
- Ring-tailed Lemur: This striking and widely recognized lemur has a long white tail with black rings. As diurnal frugivores, ring-tailed lemurs spend most of their time during the day foraging for fruit.
- Golden Bamboo Lemur: As you can guess from its name, the golden bamboo lemur loves to eat bamboo. Unfortunately, not many lemurs can stomach a lot of bamboo shoots because of their cyanide content. Adult lemurs eat up to 18 ounces of bamboo per day.
- Grey Mouse Lemur: This lemur is another insectivore that seems to love beetles more than any other bug.
- Indri: Also called a babakoto, the Indri lemur is one of the largest of all lemur species.
- Red Ruffed Lemur: Red ruffed lemurs love fruit, which makes up 75-95% of their diet. They are the most frugivorous (fruit eating) of all lemurs and also suck the nectar out of flowers. In the dry season, they may eat leaves and seeds.
Seasonal Variations in Diet
The plants lemurs eat become scarce during the dry season between May and October. So what do lemurs eat during Madagascar’s dry season when food is harder to find? Quite a bit less. However, lemurs with omnivorous diets eat more insects and small vertebrates, like frogs and mice, during these months. The tamarind tree grows pods with tasty pulp inside. It’s one of the few sources of fruit that lemurs can find in the dry season.
Most lemurs survive the dry season by eating very little, able to do so by entering a stage called estivation. Lemurs are one of the few animals that estivate. Estivation is a dormant phase where animals can survive dry seasons on stored fat, lower body temperature, and lowered heart rate. During estivation, lemurs will also experience short periods of torpor, where their body temperature and metabolic rate dip lower than 32 degrees Celsius. Of all the primates in the world - including humans, monkeys, and apes - only a few lemur species are known to hibernate for prolonged periods. Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs gorge themselves in the wet season and store extra fat in their tails.
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Foraging Strategies
Lemurs eat a lot of fruit, leaves, and nectar in the wet season. So, how do they find these and other foods in the dense forests of their habitat? Most lemurs have a keen sense of smell that leads them to their favorite treats. Some lemurs use scents to mark their paths back to their favorite food sources.
Diet Management in Captivity
While the natural habitats of lemurs can’t be fully imitated in human care outside of Madagascar, keepers can provide food items that both meet the lemurs’ nutritional needs and allow them to use their natural foraging skills. Each lemur gets an individualized diet based on the animal’s species, age, weight, personal preferences, and overall health. How much of certain foods a lemur gets might change if they put on a little weight or lose a little weight, or if they have a life change like giving birth to offspring.
In general, most lemurs at the DLC are fed a rotating combination of fruits and/or vegetables and primate chow, a specially-made biscuit for primates. There are three different types of primate chow with varying levels of nutrients, intended for leaf-eaters, fruit-eaters, or omnivores. Some lemurs will get fruit every day, while others will only get fruit rarely. Small nocturnal lemurs like dwarf lemurs and mouse lemurs are fed mealworms or wax worms along with their produce and chow. Aye-ayes will receive their worms inside of blocks of wood or other hard feeders that require them to use their natural percussive foraging skills.
Keeping the Duke Lemur Center’s population of over 200 diverse lemurs fed is a big job. Diet preparation starts at 6:30 AM so the lemurs can get their breakfast in a timely manner, and over 20 pounds of produce and 20 pounds of lemur chow are chopped, portioned, and prepared according to each animal’s dietary needs every day. Even more challenging than the kitchen work is the time, effort, and experimentation required to ensure each lemur species is getting the right foods in the proper amounts. Good food is the foundation for the health and happiness of the animals in our care. Our keepers prepare custom diets for each individual lemur every day in our on-site kitchen.
Ongoing Research
With ongoing research both in Madagascar and at the DLC, we are constantly learning new things about how and what lemurs eat. The DLC Museum of Natural History studies extinct lemurs, so they can look at fossil or subfossil lemur teeth to get clues about what lemur ancestors ate. Researchers like Dr. Lydia Greene study the gut microbiome of certain species by taking samples of their feces and looking at them under a microscope. Studies like these help us ensure that the lemurs’ digestive tracts are healthy and have all the right bacteria in them. Dr. Marina Blanco studies hibernation in dwarf lemurs, which has a lot to do with their metabolism and fat storage, which are both affected by their diet.
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Conservation Implications
For years, lemur populations have been affected drastically by hunting, as well as by habitat loss caused by deforestation, slash and burn farming, and logging. The conservation status of all lemur species ranges from vulnerable to critically endangered. Lemur habitats are often cut down for illegal logging and forest clearing for agriculture and mining. Lemurs are often hunted for food, and the aye-aye faces even more pressure from hunting; due to their bizarre appearance, many people in Madagascar regard the aye-aye as an omen of sickness, death, or evil.
Understanding the dietary needs and habits of lemurs is crucial for their conservation. Protecting their natural habitats and ensuring access to their food sources are essential steps in safeguarding these unique primates. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and, therefore, a popular location for ecotourism. Even if you are unable to visit Madagascar, you can help these incredible endangered species and diverse habitats of the island.