Common Name: Red-fronted lemur

Scientific Name: Eulemur fulvus rufus

These primates live on the islands of the Primate Expedition Cruise.

The zoo donates 5% of all plush primate sales
for conservation of wild primates including lemurs.

Description: A medium sized lemur, weighing between 2.5 and 3 kg, with brown to dark reddish brown hair. Males have a light reddish tinted patch over the eyes. Females lack the distinct patch making the sexes relatively easy to distinguish. The red-fronted lemur is a subspecies of the brown lemur.

Range: Coastal eastern and western Madagascar

Habitat: Forest Diet: Fruit, leaves, flowers, bark, and occasionally insects.

Social Life: Like the brown lemur, red-fronted lemurs exhibit no dominance hierarchies and aggression is minimal. Groups range from 4- 17 individuals. Reproduction is similar to brown lemurs.

Conservation: All lemurs are protected by the government of Madagascar and international law. Red-fronted lemurs are classified as endangered by the USDI and are listed on Appendix I of CITES. The 2000 Red List from the IUCN lists them as Low Risk but near threatened (LR/nt).

Recommended LINKS & BOOKS

Learn even more about red-fronted lemurs from Duke University Primate Center. You can even Adopt-A-Lemur!

A great reference book on primates is Noel Rowe's The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates.

Check out "the" lemur guide by Conservation International. It may be a bit difficult to find and it looks pricey for the size, but it is well worth it for the wealth of lemur information within. This provides extensive information about each species as well as overall history, conservation and the best places to see them in Madagascar.

Dr. David Macdonald's Encyclopedia of Mammals is one of the great standards for mammal information including the lemurs. Purchase it through Amazon.com by clicking on the photo to help the zoo!

A highly acclaimed video on Madagascar is from the PBS Living Edens series -- Madagascar: A World Apart.

A fun and serious look into the world of lemurs can be seen on video with In the Wild: Lemurs with John Cleese