Ten years ago, Cotswold Wildlife Park’s interactive Lemur exhibit, “Madagascar”, officially opened to the public. On the exhibit’s anniversary, the Park’s Primate team is thrilled to announce the birth of a Collared Lemur, bringing the total numbers of Lemur breeding successes to 55 since the Madagascar exhibit officially opened a decade ago. Visitors can see the tiny newborn in the exhibit it shares with a troop of 18 other free-roaming Lemurs and nine Madagascan Birds.

Females are only sexually receptive for just two or three days a year, so the window of opportunity for males to father offspring is small. After a gestation period of approximately 165 days, Lemur mum, Anais, gave birth. The baby’s father is, Varika.

Natalie Horner, Deputy Section Head of Primates, said, “On the 5th of May, we discovered that our female Collared Lemur, Anais, had given birth that very morning. Anais is an experienced mum, so did brilliantly during the delivery and was already cleaning the baby up ready for its first feed. Lemur babies only weigh around 80g when first born but are able to cling to their mum’s fur and clamber around to find the best feeding position. At the moment, the baby is spending most of the time feeding and sleeping. Apart from upping her daily diet, we don’t interfere and leave everything in mum’s capable hands – just observe from afar to make sure both mother and baby are bonding and doing well”.

Photo Credits: Cotswold Wildlife Park

To highlight the plight of the world’s most endangered Lemurs, Cotswold Wildlife Park will dedicate 26th May – 3rd June 2018 to ‘Lemur Week’. Its aim is to raise awareness and funds for the Park’s conservation projects helping to save the world’s most threatened Lemurs from extinction.

As part of ‘Lemur Week’, visitors will have the chance to name the new Collared Lemur baby, as well as take part in a variety of Lemur-themed activities. Read more about the Park’s conservation projects here: https://www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk/conservation/.

The Collared Lemur (Eulemur collaris) is found in rainforests in a small range in the southeastern tip of Madagascar. Like most species of Lemur, it is arboreal, and like other brown Lemurs, this species is cathemeral (active during the day and the night). They are known to feed on a variety of plant species.

The Collared Lemur is currently listed as “Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and it is threatened primarily by habitat loss.

More great pics, below the fold!