The Largest Population of Ringtail Lemurs - And Growing!

 Heading south from Fianarantsoa, we stopped in Ambalavoa to learn about making paper from the avoha tree, a small, shrub-like tree with soft, silky fibers.

They strip the bark and fibers, making bundles like these.

After soaking them in hot water and pounding them into a pulp, the pulp is formed into a ball

which is stretched over a frame.  At this point, it can be set out to dry if a solid whitish sheet is what is desired.  

If not, while it is still wet, it can be shaped into postcards or other items and decorated with flower petals, leaves, stems or other things while still wet.  They try to stay with mostly natural materials.

When the pieces are dry, they can be combined or shaped to whatever finished product is desired.

Having been sufficiently educated on paper making and history, we headed off on a short trip to the Anja Community Reserve.  The landscape became dotted with mountains with sheer sides.  The kind Chrissy loves!

This particular one is part of the 30 hectares that makes up the park.  The grounds consist of a lake and two caves and is home to at least 300 maki, or ringtail lemurs, a number that is apparently growing.

As we headed through the park, we came across some local reptiles, a couple of oustalet chameleons.

Our guide taught us quite a bit about the ringtail lemur.  Most importantly, he taught us that ringtail lemurs are most assuredly a matriarchal society.  If there is any such animal as King Julian, he holds the title in name only, kind of like Prince Philip, who only held the title by virtue of his marriage to Queen Elizabeth II.  Now that we have that out of the way...

The ringtail lemur lives to be about 20 years of age.  When they are ready to pass, they will retire to a cave and bury themselves alive.  

Gestation is about four months with babies being usually born in May. Almost every female we saw had at least one baby sticking very close to her!  The babies will spend their first week clinging to the mother's belly and the next four weeks clinging to her back.  After the fourth week, they will begin exerting a little independence, running back and forth between the ground, tree limbs, or whatever they fancy, but always running back to the safety of Mommy's back!  The ringtail may not leap like the sifaka lemur, but the babies are absolutely adorable the way they hop!

One curious thing about them is their diet.  They eat primarily eucalyptus leaves, but they are also very fond of lilac seeds.  Unfortunately, lilac seeds are poisonous to them.  They have figured out the antidote, though.  There is some type of mineral in the ground on the reserve that acts as an antidote to the poison.  Therefore, you can see them eating the blooms and seeds from the lilac trees and then see them licking the ground and eating dirt.

I guess mother nature has blessed other animals than humans with the desire to find junk food!  But, as primates, I guess lemurs are still our cousins, after all!