A three-month-old Black Lemur born at the United Kingdom’s Drusillas Park has made an unlikely friend: a Ring-Tailed Lemur named William.






Photo Credit:  Drusillas Park

The baby and his adopted “Uncle William” have a unique relationship, with William being very protective of the little Lemur.  As the baby becomes more independent, he spends less time with his mother and more time playing with William.

Zoo keepers recently confirmed that the baby, born in April, is a male. Now that they know the baby’s gender, keepers will soon give him a name.

The gender of a Black Lemur becomes evident over time due to the strong sexual dimorphism in this species. Males are all black with striking orange eyes, and females are brown with long whitish ear tufts. After weeks of speculation, there is now no doubt that the baby is a boy.

In the wild, Black Lemurs are native to the Island of Madagascar, where they live in the forest regions of the north. Although they are primates, they are not considered monkeys or apes; instead they are prosimians, which means ‘before the monkey’.

The population of Black Lemurs is declining in the wild due to habitat destruction and hunting. They are listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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