Rare Baby Black and White Ruffed Lemur to Be Introduced at Sacramento Zoo

The Sacramento Zoo will be showing off the newest member of their family today, July 12, 2007. The new baby boy is an endangered black and white ruffed lemur who was born on May 16. He will be allowed to roam in his exhibit for the first time and viewed by the public Thursday.

The baby lemur, who has not been named yet, was born to eight-year-old parents and had a twin brother who, unfortunately, passed away of natural causes shortly after they were born. According to the press release, it is common for black and white ruffed lemurs to have a high infant mortality rate. It is not unheard of for a mother lemur to have up to six babies at once, but the more average number would be two or three. A newborn infant typically weighs a mere 100 grams.

Sadly, black and white ruffed lemurs are very rare and endangered due to loss of habitat. They suffer from starvation due to disappearing of food sources and are often targeted by hunters. Much of their habitat has been burned and cleared for farming and this has lead to dwindling numbers of this species of lemur in the wild.

Luckily, black and white ruffed lemurs have a very high success rate when reintroduced into the wild from zoo populations. In 1997 five zoo lemurs were placed into Betamona Natural Reserve in Madagascar followed by several others throughout the years. The Sacramento Zoo has partnered with The Association of Zoos and Aquariums Ruffed Lemur Species Survival Plan, Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG, a consortium of zoos and related institutions working together), and the Malgasy Government in an attempt to increase the breeding of these primates and make the public more aware of how to protect them once they are in the wild.

The black and white ruffed lemur generally lives their life in a small group somewhere between 2 and 16 members. They are quite the feminists as the females are dominant over the males and head up these family groups. Generally, the head mother, or breeding female, will run a new female yearling out of the group once she has a new litter. At the Sacramento Zoo, they have been trying to prevent this phenomenon.

"Here at the Sacramento Zoo, we are working to keep our female yearling born in 2006 a part of the group. To do so, we have kept the female yearling with the mother when she gave birth and each night since. We also rotated each one of the male yearlings inside at night to keep the youngsters familiar with the mom and infant." said Leslie Field, Lead Zookeeper/Supervisor in the press release by the zoo. "All three yearlings are very comfortable with the new baby and the mom has shown no signs of excluded the young female," Field said.

Thanks to this 80-year-old zoo, the black and white ruffed lemur population will hopefully begin to increase and will no longer be endangered. The Sacramento houses over 140 endangered species. For more information, you may visit www.saczoo.com.

SOURCE:

Sacramento Zoo Press Release. URL: (http://www.saczoo.com/2_happening/press_releases/media%20releases/2007%20press%20releases/BABY%20BLACK%20AND%20WHITE%20LEMUR%202007%20PR.pdf)