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Spirits Of The Forest Analysis

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Lemurs are creatures that are solely found on the island of Madagascar and islands off the east coast of Africa. These species have diversified greatly into niches because of no competition from other primates (since other primates are not present on the island). In the documentary, Spirits of the forest (Lemurs), several species’ physical and behavioral adaptations are described. Some of these species include the mouse, ring-tailed, sifakas, and Indris lemurs. Lemurs are described to resemble dog-like primates whose eyes are faced forward. This physical characteristic contributes to binocular vision, which helps lemurs gauge the distance between trees. They have strong olfactory capabilities compared to other primates and bond by grooming one another. Ring-tailed lemurs are more terrestrial than arboreal. Females are the dominant gender in their society. They form close troops of about ten to twelve, or even possibly more than twenty members of each troop. Daily, ringtails spend part of their time on the ground in the dry forest and bush. Their physical features include long tails with white and black rings. Their tails are held high which helps hold the troop together. Ringtails spend a part of their time on the ground eating leaves, flowers, and small invertebrates to …show more content…

They have distinctly high pitched alarm calls that signal the threat of predators that target their young. From the documentary, this specie seems to reside in both the dry forest and lush rainforests. They rely heavily on scent marking to identify their home range. Their locomotion is leaping from tree to tree. In terms of their young, the offspring suckles for three to months but as they grow, tend to explore more and more. When twins are born it indicates a rich supply of food. In particular, they eat mud from termite mounds for nutrition and forage on the ground eating spiders, and pods of trees, leaves, shoots, and

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