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Ring-tailed lemur
The ring-tailed lemurs spend more time on the ground than any other lemur species
Moves to creating a personal ‘perfume’:
- To create their distinctive odour, male lemurs combine the strong but short-lived scent produced by their wrist glands, with longer lasting secretion from their shoulder glands. An action known as “wrist to pit” mixes the two sets of chemicals.
- Males then pull their tail against their shoulder glands and rub the tail with their wrists, to cover it with the combined odour.
- Although the scent is distinctive to lemurs, humans are not able to detect it.
What makes a good ‘perfume’?
- Males’ scent contains genetic information relating to their immune system.
- A female is able to analyse a male’s smell and identify whether it contains genes that are similar or different to her own.
- Females are looking for differences - this will mean their offspring are more genetically diverse and have a more robust immune system to fight disease.
More about lemurs:
- There are 101 known species of lemur in Madagascar.
- The ring-tailed lemur is found in the dry forests and bush of southern and south-western Madagascar.
- Females reproduce at about three years of age, and they generally give birth to one baby a year.
- Moving about on all fours, the ring-tailed lemurs spend more time on the ground than any other lemur species.
- In the wild, the ring-tailed lemur is thought to live for around 15 years.
