Got Lemurs?

What is a Lemur?

"Madagascar is world-famous for its lemurs-primates that look something like a cat crossed with a squirrel and a dog. These animals are unique to the island and display a range of interesting behaviors from singing like a whale (the indri) to sashaying across the sand like a ballet dancer (the sifaka). Below you will learn more about these fascinating creatures."

The above was taken from the website wildmadagascar.org. I couldn't have said it better! A primate that looks like a cat crossed with a squirrel and a dog.

I want one!

BTW, there are only two places in the world to see all species in their natural surroundings. Madagascar and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina!

When lemurs began to spread out over the island of Madagascar more than 60 million years ago, they began to fill every biological niche. This even included such factors as whether the lemur was active during the day and slept at night (diurnal,) or whether they were active at night and slept during the day (nocturnal.)

He talks about the Duke Center also. It is world reknown.

"Lemurs are prosimian primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini. Like other strepsirrhine primates, such as lorises, pottos, and galagos, they share ancestral (or plesiomorphic) traits with early primates. In this regard, lemurs are popularly confused with ancestral primates; however, lemurs did not give rise to monkeys and apes (simians). Instead, they evolved independently in isolation on Madagascar.[7] All modern strepsirrhines including lemurs are traditionally thought to have evolved from primitive primates known as adapiforms during the Eocene (56 to 34 mya) or Paleocene (65 to 56 mya).[7][8][9] Adapiforms, however, lack a specialized arrangement of teeth, known as a toothcomb, which nearly all living strepsirrhines possess.[10][11][12] A more recent hypothesis is that lemurs descended from lorisiform (loris-like) primates. This is supported by comparative studies of the cytochrome b gene and the presence of the strepsirrhine toothcomb in both groups.[12][13] Instead of being the direct ancestors of lemurs, the adapiforms may have given rise to both the lemurs and lorisiforms, a split that would be supported by molecular phylogenetic studies.[12] The later split between lemurs and lorises is thought to have occurred approximately 62 to 65 mya according to molecular studies,[14] although other genetic tests and the fossil record in Africa suggest more conservative estimates of 50 to 55 mya for this divergence.[15]"

From Wikipedia: see more