Lemuridae is another large family of primates, just like cercopithecidae, as it includes most species of lemur. I mentioned in my last primate families post that all lemurs are found on the island of Madagascar, but something that differs from the cheirogaleidae is that lemurids are diurnal. Diurnal means that they spend most of their time awake during the daylight hours.

Like the chiergaleidae the lemuridae are strepsirrhines. One of the most distinguished characteristics of strepsirrhines is that they have wet noses. Lemurs also have tooth combs, used for grooming or for gouging bark off trees in search of yummy sap.

Lemurids are quadrupedal and move easily on four legs through the trees and across the ground.

Some notable examples of lemurids are the iconic ring-tailed lemur, the red ruffed lemur, the blue-eyed black lemur, and the collared lemur. All of these species are very social and live in groups, although the group structure is slightly different with each species.

My favorite fun fact about ring-tailed lemurs is that the females are dominant in this species and all males rank below them. Which makes sense when you think about the fact that the males stink fight for dominance. You can have men who stink fight running a society? Oh wait…