LEMURS PART ONE

Lemurs, Bush Babies, Lorises, Pottos and Tarsiers are all of the family of prosimians.

They are a close relative of monkeys. The theory is being in competition with monkeys made them all nocturnal but the lemur.

Bones were found in Europe and Africa proved lemurs existed there 50 million years ago. Lemurs are ancestors of mankind. They were widespread but due to climate changes and development of monkeys drove them almost to extinction.

Madagascar broke away from the  mainland of Africa due to  the continental drift. A small number must have escaped by clinging to drifting vegetation.

At that time there were few animals on the island and the lemurs were able to establish themselves. The Madagascar wildlife evolved separately from  wildlife elsewhere.

Around 45 species and subspecies of lemur survive on the big island but are in danger of extinction.

HABITAT
Madagascar, the third largest island in the world, has an amazing selection of habitats for its wildlife. There are deserts as well as tropical rainforests. The island has five different climatic areas and the high altitude of the hills which is like a spine with further diversities along the eastern slopes of the Haut Plateau.

The rainforests are the richest habitat but the dryer deciduous forests hold very rare species like Decken's sifaka and crowned lemur.

Even there are heavy destruction and so severe that animals becoming extinct before they are known to western zoologists to save the species.

FOOD AND HUNTING
As around 80 per cent of Madagascar's plant life is found only on the island, the diet of the lemurs is as unusual as the animals themselves, vegetarian lemurs like the Brown lemur are eating a wide variety of flowers, leaves and fruits in season.

Certain rainforest species, including the ruffed lemur are mainly fruit-eaters but indri lemurs depend on leaves.

The tiny nocturnal mouse lemur eats only insects. With its hands like ours it holds its prey and eats it. It makes loud smacking noises while it enjoys the best parts of it.

The aye-aye eats mainly insects but also appreciates coconuts and raid the village plantations to extract coconut milk. It scrapes the white meat off the coconut shell with its long finger.

SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS
The aye-aye living in the rainforests of the north and east coast has the habit if a woodpecker. It feeds at night and uses its extra long middle finger to tap the branches. It listens with bat-like ears for the rustle of insects and extracts under the bark its food.

The animal moves on all fours through the branches, and walks on its wrists not to damaging its delicate finger.

The indri is so attuned to the rainforest environment that it can live nowhere else.  It depends on a least 80 different plants and only found in the Madagascar rainforests. It is therefore impossible to keep it in a zoo.

Verrea's sifaka lives in the spiny desert at the south and has no access to water from streams or rivers. To survive it drinks the dew from its coat in the early morning.

Lemur have sensitive whiskers on their muzzle surrounding the wet-tipped nose called rhinarium. A sense of smell is very important to the animal for it is used as a means of communication.

All lemur have scent glands which they use to stake out their territory.

The ring-tailed lemur rubs its wrist glands over its stripy tail and uses it like a perfumed wand to spread its scent about.

During the mating season it amounts to a scent war by the ring-tailed lemurs to attract females.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

It sounds like machine-gun when the woodpecker hammers its way into the tree to reach galleries of wood boring beetle larva. It then spears the fat meal with its harpoon-like tongue and moves on to search for more.

This method is unique amongst birds. The woodpecker not only makes holes to reach the larva but uses the same method to build a nest. In breeding season it announces its present by drumming on a branch by which it creates a rapid knocking sound which travels quite a great distance.

Its main tool for all these activities is his peak. The long and chisel-tipped peak is mounted on a specially reinforced skull. This special protection prevents damage to its brain from shock of each blow and also injuries. Its neck muscles are very strong and able to work in a high speed.  It reaches 13 strikes in half a second.

The bird has also different toes. There two forwards and two backwards toes. This gives the bird a good grip on the bark and enables it to use its peak so effectively. It also has another amazing addition.  The tail feathers have reinforced central spines. This enables the bird to hang backwards, away from the tree, and the tail supports it like a shooting stick.

IT’S DIET

As it hops up the tree it listens and examines the bark for any sign of the wood-boring beetle’s larvae.

The beetles start as an egg lay under the bark. The grub’s food is by eating the wood. It forms a tunnel and as the grub grows the tunnel expands. When it reaches its full size it pupates, still under the bark, and then emerges as a beetle.

The tell-telling tales is either decaying wood or sounds of larvae munching it ways through the timber. The woodpecker will spot it and starts drilling. When it reaches the gallery it will insert its tongue to get hold of the larvae. The great spotted woodpecker has a 40mm long tongue. This is in human turns a 22cm long tongue.  Its tongue is sticky and has a barbed like tip.   The barbs are used to pierce into the larvae while the sticky saliva is used to catch beetles which have hard armour.

IT’S HABITAT

The great spotted woodpecker is found across Europe and 
Asia.  It lives sin great territory of pine forest in the west of the British Isles to the east of Japan and China. The vast northern conifer forests provide the woodpecker cone of pines and fir trees. This is a very important source of food.

The bird takes the whole cones and wedges it into a cranny or if not available it creates a wedge-shape hole in a tree. It rams the cones in and then pulls off the hard outer shell to reach the nutritious seed inside. It is estimated that bird would eat up to 7000 seeds a day.

Another source of food the bird uses is; in spring when the sap is rising it cuts a number of holes around the trunk. It visits it daily and drinks the sap as well as eats any beetle or insect which got trapped there. 

BREEDING SEASON

As the breeding season is coming the woodpecker hammers on wood to proclaim its territory. The sound could travel up to 800m. This also helps to find other woodpeckers. When they established a relationship the birds start in earnest. They prefer a tree with rotten wood which is easier to drill into it. They drive straight at first and downwards for about 12 cm wide and 30cm deep. The female lays four to seven white eggs at the bottom on fine soft woodchips and foliage.

To create this nest site it is a major job and takes the bird two to four weeks hard work. Starlings are very fond of stealing such a valuable nest-site. After being constantly harassed, the starling eventually gives up but still steals the twigs and moss to be carried somewhere else. After that battle the woodpecker also moves and starts afresh somewhere else.

The chicks hatch after 12 days and then the real work starts. The parents have to provide as much food as possible. Now, instead of drilling holes for larvae the birds find them on leaves and plants. It had been know they also steal other baby birds or squirrels and the adult squirrels steal woodpeckers off spring.

Once the breeding season is over the birds try to maintain their nest-site and hopefully till the next breeding season. If they are able to is will save a lot of energy.