lemur

Any of various prosimian primates of the Lemuridae family, found in Madagascar and the Comoros Islands. There are about 16 species, ranging from mouse-sized to dog-sized animals; the pygmy mouse lemur (Microcebus myoxinus), weighing 30 g/1 oz, is the smallest primate. The diademed sifaka, weighing 7 kg/15 lb, is the largest species of lemur. Lemurs are arboreal, and some species are nocturnal. They have long, bushy tails, and feed on fruit, insects, and small animals. Many are threatened with extinction owing to loss of their forest habitat and, in some cases, from hunting.

The fat-tailed dwarf lemur, cheirogaleus medius, is the first primate to be shown to hibernate through winter. Lemurs tagged with temperature transmitters demonstrated that, unlike other species that hibernate, dormant lemurs do not regulate their body temperature, which instead closely follows the ambient temperatures of their tree-hole homes. Lemurs hibernate to save energy through the hot, dry Madagascan winter period when their staple diet of fruit is scarce.