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Know Your Primate:Cheirogaleus medius
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Cheirogaleidae
Genus: Cheirogaleus
Species: Cheirogaleus medius
Common: Fat-tailed dwarf lemur
The cheirogaleids have been, variously, placed in Lemuridae, the Lorisoidea, and in a family of their own (which I follow here). The family is composed of five genera and eight species.
There are two, allopatric, species of fat-tailed dwarf lemur and in this post I will look at Cheirogaleus medius. C. medius is a small, nocturnal primate that lives in western and southern Madagascar. They are arboreal quadrupeds that subsist on fruits, flowers, insects, and nectar. They store fat in their tails and hibernate when food is scarce. During hibernation they loose up to 100 grams of body weight.
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- Age: 47
- Town: St. Louis
- Supporting gorillas from 07 Oct 2008
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I blog about Paleoanthropology and Primatology.
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6 Responses to “Know Your Primate:Cheirogaleus medius”
When they hibernate do they burrow underground? They look like they have webbed back feet. They’re so cute!
No, they hibernate in nests, or holes in trees…
Very cool. I linked to your blog at Scienceblogs, it’s interesting and educational. I look forward to more of your Know Your Primate series here!
[...] Know your primate is up at its new home. [...]
I wonder whether we can find any Cheirogaleus family primate in Virunga?
No, they can only be found on Madagascar, although you could probably find lorises and galagos.