On any given day, a visitor may see a little more than a dozen ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) at the Bronx Zoo’s Madagascar exhibit. It is a building that also houses fossa, radiated tortoises, hissing cockroaches, crocodiles, mongooses, and red ruffed lemurs, among many other species of animals endemic to Madagascar. The exhibit recently saw its tenth year anniversary, and I celebrated by paying a visit to my favorite feature, the Spiny Forest, where the ring-tailed lemurs are found.

I have always felt a connection to ring-tailed lemurs, and find interesting the way they sit when the morning sun shines from the glass-topped ceiling, with arms outstretched, backs sloped, chins up, and eyes closed. On this visit, I followed their movements as they jumped from tree branch to tree branch and watched a young lemur cling to its mother’s back.

A keeper informed me that compared to other types of lemurs that traverse upper layers of forests, the ring-tailed lemur spends most of its time on the ground. This fact alone means that it relies on its tail less than some other primates since tails are used for balance. Lemur catta tails are also non-prehensile, meaning they do not have the capacity for gripping. So unlike other primates, ring-tailed lemurs do not employ the use of their tails to grab on to a branch or a vine as it moves along a forest. However, a ring-tailed lemur’s tail is still a dominant feature of its body. When not referring to the animal using its scientific name, Lemur catta, it is most often identified in nomenclature by its tail. It is almost as long as the lemur’s body itself and ringed with white and black sections (Mittermeier et al.1994).

When ring-tailed lemurs do engage their tails, they do so mostly for communication purposes. These lemurs are extremely social animals and maintain an impressive vocabulary of approximately 28 different calls (Macedonia 1993). They spend their lives traveling in groups, searching for food, and spend only a couple of days within a range of 1000 kilometers before continuing on to a new area (Sussman 2000). For this reason, their tails are engaged as a signal, so that the group can remain intact. Traveling in groups is essential to their survival, as ring-tailed lemurs can encounter and experience conflict with predators like snakes and fossa, and even other groups of lemurs when their ranges cross (Goodman 2003). When this happens, ring-tailed lemurs use their tails as a warning to their group and also as an olfactory weapon, by releasing a chemical and waving it at the opponent (Jolly 1966). When not engaging in conflict, the tail can be used for the opposite reason. Group members familiar to one another have been shown to “play fight” (Palagi 2009).

Since zoo-based lemurs do not travel long distances, nor do they encounter danger the way their counterparts in the wild do, I was interested in whether or not they still engaged their tails and whether it was for the same reasons they would if they did not live in the zoo.

For my personal observation, I defined “engage” as the tail being raised up at least halfway (parallel with the body or higher).

Here’s what I saw:

• Ring-tailed lemurs use their tail for comfort.  I observed this behavior when the exhibit sprinklers suddenly turned on. The room became slightly colder as water misted throughout the space. Almost immediately, lemurs raised their tails seemingly in alarm and then wrapped their tails around their body as they crouched and huddled in groups of four or five. They remained this way until the sprinklers shut off.
• These zoo-based lemurs made great use of their space. While surely expansive, it was definitely not the range their species are used to in the wild. However, each lemur explored the length of the exhibit, constantly jumping on branches, rocks, and logs. They traversed back and forth and engaged their tails almost continuously as they did so.
• The keeper I spoke to entered the enclosure at one point. The lemurs’ tails were fully raised when she appeared.  A number of them jumped away to the far end of the exhibit. A few stayed to cautiously watch but kept a good distance.
• There were a handful of birds in the exhibit. At one point, they became agitated for reasons I could not discover. The lemurs were vocal when this happened, and their tails were raised once more.
• These lemurs also engaged their tails during playful interactions with one another.

I was pleased to find that ring-tailed lemurs housed in the Bronx Zoo found occasions to engage their tails more than I expected. They reacted to the zoo’s unnatural features (approaching keeper, disruptive sprinklers, agitated birds) in the same way I imagine they would react to certain natural stimuli in the wild.

Of course, one would need a more substantial understanding of the contexts behind Lemur catta tail engagement, and also study these creatures the wild in order to effectively make comparisons. To improve upon this inquiry, repeated observations made by multiple observers in different zoos during varying times of day must be done.

For the narrow scope of my afternoon at the zoo, however, these zoo-based lemurs engage their tails frequently. I have reason to believe that they lead enriched lives at the zoo, as they continue to educate and connect to their human audiences and remain protected as an endangered species.

References

Mittermeier RA, Tattersall I, Konstant WR, Meyers DM, Mast RB. 1994. Lemurs of Madagascar. Washington DC: Conserv Intl. 356 p.

Macedonia JM. 1993. The vocal repertoire of the ringtailed lemur (Lemur catta). Folia Primatol 61(4): 186-217.

Sussman RW. 2000. Primate ecology and social structure. Volume 1, Lorises, lemurs and tarsiers. Needham Heights (MA): Pearson Custom. 207 p.

Goodman SM. 2003. Mammals: predation on lemurs. In: Goodman, SM, Benstead JP, editors. The natural history of Madagascar. Chicago: Univ Chicago Pr. p 1221-8.

Jolly A. 1966. Lemur behavior: a Madagascar field study. Chicago (IL): Univ Chicago Pr. 187 p.

Palagi, E. (2009). Adult Play Fighting and Potential Role of Tail Signals in Ringtailed Lemurs ( Lemur catta ). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 123(1), 1

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