Playful and entertaining residents of the Debrecen Zoo, ring-tailed lemurs contribute to the spring baby boom year by year.
This time is no different as two females have recently given birth to one healthy offspring each, after a four-month gestation period. Mostly clinging to their mothers’ fur, the little lemurs are strong and have an excellent appetite, with a gradual increase in their curiosity towards both the outside world and new food items; they now like to complement milk with some fruits originally offered to adults! Visitors will be able to meet them and all the others up close on Catta Walk after the zoo reopens.
Endemic to the island of Madagascar, ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) spend more time on the ground, where they mostly forage for fruits, than any other lemur species. Even though they are some of the most charismatic and widely kept primates in zoos, their wild populations face extreme challenges since it is estimated that their numbers have fallen by 95 percent between 2000 and 2017 due to habitat loss, bushmeat hunting and captures for the pet trade. As a result, there are now a lot more of them in human care than in their natural habitats and they are currently listed as Endangered in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. In such times, it is especially important for zoos to maintain stable and viable populations under conservation breeding programs such as the European Endangered Species Program (EAZA EEP) that the Debrecen Zoo participates in – and that is why we are so happy to see that the institution welcomes new offspring every year.
press release
