Ring-tailed lemurs are the most terrestrial of lemurs; 70% of their travel is terrestrial as they walk quadrupedally with their tails held vertically.
Ring-tailed lemurs are the most terrestrial of all lemurs, but they spend time in all layers of the forest.
About 70% of ring-tailed lemur group travel is terrestrial and about 33% of an individual lemur’s average day is spent on the ground. The rest of its time is spent in mid- or upper-level canopy trees (23% and 25%, respectively), in small bushes (13%), or in the emergent layer of the canopy (6%.)
Ring-tailed lemurs move by walking or running quadrupedally, holding their tails almost completely vertically as they move, with the tip of the long tail curving away from the body forming the shape of a question mark.
Sources: (Cawthon Lang, 2005; Mittermeier et al., 2010; Jolly, 2003; Sussman, 2000)
Image: Mathias Appel
