The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs 29 the WOOLLY INDRI, and the BLACK INDRI all belong to this group. The SIFAKAS, as some of these and the allied forms are called, are venerated by the Mala-gasys, who never kill one intentionally. Mr. Foster live in companies of six or eight,observes that " they and are very gentle and inoffensive animals, wearing a very melancholy expression, and being as a rule morose, inactive, and more silent than the other lemurs. They rarely live long in captivity. In their native state they are most alert in the morning and evening, as during the day they conceal themselves under the foliage of trees. When asleep or in repose, the head is dropped on the chest and buried between the arms, the tail rolled up on itself and disposed between the hind legs. The Photo by L. Medtand, F.Z.S.} [North Finchley. sifakas live exclusively on vegetable substances, fruits, BLACK LEMUR. leaves, and flowers, their diet not being varied, as Found on the coast of Madagascar. in the other lemurs, by small birds, eggs, or insects. Their life is almost entirely arboreal, for which the muscles of their hands and feet, as well as the parachute-like folds between their arms and bodies, and their peculiar hooked fingers, are well is carried by the mother fitted. The young one on its back, its hands grasping her armpits tightly." This is not the universal way of carrying the young among lemurs. The CROWNED LEMUR, a beautiful grey-and-white species, often breeds at Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley. the Zoo. The female carries its young one LEMUR. COQUEREL'S partly on its side. The infant clings tightly with to being awakened in the objects A lemur which strongly daytime.

arms and tail round the very slender waist of the lemur, and pushes out its sharp little face just above the thigh of the mother. The WOOLLY INDRI has more woolly fur than the others of its tribe, a shorter nose, and a longer tail.

THE TRUE LEMURS

Of these there are several species, all confined to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. One of the best known is the KING- TAILED LEMUR, mentioned above. L. Medland, F.Z &} Finchley. It is called LEMUR CATTA, the Cat Photo by Lemur, from being so often kept RUFFED LEMUR. in domestication. The WEASEL Another of the nocturnal lemurs. It lives mainly on fruit and insects.

of the World The Living Animals

LEMUR, the GREY LEMUR, the MOUSE LEMUR, the GENTLE LEMUR, the SPORTIVE LEMUR, the CROWNED LEMUR, and COQUEREL'S LEMUR, all represent various small, pretty, and interesting varieties of the group. The BLACK-AND-WHITE LEMUR, one of the larger kinds, is capable of domestication. A specimen kept in a London house, where the present writer saw it, was always called "Pussy" by the children. The other small kinds are very like squirrels, mice, weasels, and other creatures, with which they have no

Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [North Finchley. connection. It seems as though the curiously GARXETT'S GALAGO. limited and primitive fauna of Madagascar tried its want of variety by mimick- One of the squirrel-like lemuroids. to make up for ing the forms of other animals, and something of the same kind is seen in Australia, where the marsupials take the place of all kinds of ordinary mammals. There are marsupial rats, marsupial wolves, marsupial squirrels, and even marsupial moles. The small squirrel and rat-like lemurs are called CHIROGALES. littleCOQUEREL'S LEMUR is really a chirogale. It is a quaint and by no means amiable animal, sleeping obstinately all day, and always ready to growl and bite if disturbed. Its into balls in acolour is brownish grey and cream-colour. A pair of these, rolled up tightly box of hay, will absolutely refuse to move, even when handled. They only feed by night.

THE GALAGOS.

An allied group, confined to tropical Africa, is that of the GALAGOS. They are most beautiful little creatures, whose nearest relatives are the Malagasy lemurs. Generally speaking, they have is almost as soft as floss silk, and so close that theeven more exquisite fur than the lemurs. It hand sinks into it as into a bed of moss. The colour of the fur is rich and pleasing, generally some shade of brown. The head is small, the nose pointed, and the ears thin, hairless, and capable of being folded up, like the wings of a beetle. But the most beautiful feature of the is ofgalagos is their eyes. These are of immense size, compared with the head. The eye the richest and most beautiful brown, like a cairngorm stone, but not glassy or clear. Though quite translucent, the eye is marked with minute dividing-lines, like the grain in an agate a truly exquisite object. When handled or taken in the arms, the little galago clasps the fingers or sleeve tightly, as if it thought it was holding a tree, and shows no disposition to escape. A family of three or four young ones, no larger than mice, with their large-eyed mother attending to them, forms an exquisitely dainty little group. The galagos vary from the size of a squirrel to that of a small cat. The kind most often seen in England is the MAHOLI GALAGO from East Africa. Another species comes from Senegal, and others from Calabar and the forests of the Gold Coast. GARNETT'S GALAGO, another species, is shown above. They may be regarded as nocturnal tropical lemuroids, analogous to the chirogales of Mada- Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [North Finchley. MAHOLI GALAGO gascar. It has been suggested, with great Thia little animal is a native of East Africa. It has very large eyes, probability, that the intensely drowsy sleep and fur as soft as the chinchilla's.

Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs

of many of the lemuroid animals corresponds to the hibernation of many northern mammals. Tropical animals often become torpid to avoid the famine caused by the hot season, just as creatures in cold countries hibernate to avoid the hunger which would otherwise come with winter.

THE SLOW LEMURS OR LORISES, AND TARSIERS.

Another group of lemuroids is distinguished from the foregoing by having the second finger of the fore paws either very short or rudimentary. The thumb and great toe are also set very widelv apart from the other fingers and toes. A far more striking distinction to the non-scientific eye is their astonishingly deliberate and slow movements. They have no tails, enormous eyes, and very long, slender legs. The SLOW LORIS is found in Eastern India and the Malay countries, where it is fairly common in

Photo by L. Medtand, F.Z.S.} [North Finchley. the forests. The Bengali natives call it sharmindi LORIS. SLENDER billi (" bashful cat "), from its slow, solemn, hesitating has the habits of a chameleon whenThis extraordinary creature seeking insects for food. The photograph is unique. movements when in pursuit of insects. Of a slow loris kept by him, Sir William Jones, in the " Asiatic Researches," wrote: " At all times he seemed pleased at being stroked on the head and throat, and he frequently allowed me to touch his extremely sharp teeth. But his temper was always quick, and when he was unseasonably disturbed he expressed a little resentment, by an obscure hismurmur, like that of a squirrel.... When a grasshopper or any insect alighted within reach, his eyes, as he fixed them on his prey, glowed with uncommon fire; and having drawn himself back to spring on his prey with greater force, he seized it with both his fore paws, and held it till he had devoured it. He never could have enough grasshoppers, and spent the whole night in prowling for them." is only found in Southern India and The SLENDER LORIS, an equally curious creature, Ceylon. Its food consists entirely of insects, which it captures by gradual, almost paralysed of slow lemurs,approach. It has been described as a "furry-coated chameleon." A group living in Western Africa, are known as POTTOS. They are odd little quadrupeds, in which the "forefinger" never grows to tail is alsobe more than a stump. The either sharp or rudimentary. They are as slow as the lorises in their movements.

In the Malay islands a distant relais foundtive, even more curiously formed, in the TARSIER. It has the huge eyes, pointed ears, and beautiful fur of the galagos, but the tail is long, thin, and tufted. The fingers are flattened out into disks, like a tree-frog's. These creatures hop from bough to bough in a frog-like manner in search of insects. They are not so large as a good-sized rat. Our photograph does not give an adequate idea of the size of the eyes.

Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S. [North Finchley.]

SLOW LORIS.

Another of the slow-moving loris group. These animals are not shown to the general public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially warmed room.

THE AYE-AYE.

Last, and most’ remarkable of all these weird lemuroids, is the AyE-aYE. It is placed in a group by itself, and has teeth like those of the Rodents, a large bushy tail, and most extraordinarily long, slender fingers, which it probably uses for picking caterpillars and grubs out of rotten wood. It is nearly as large as an Arctic fox, but its habits are those of a lemur. In Madagascar it haunts the bamboo forests, feeding on the juice of sugar-cane, grubs, and _ insects. The fingers of its hands are of different sizes and lengths, though all are abnormally long and slender. _The second finger seems to have “wasted,” but is said to be of the utmost value to its owner in extracting grubs and insects from the burrows in which they dwell, or the crannies in which they may have taken refuge. Very seldom is this animal seen alive in captivity. Although commonly called Aye-aye in this country, it is doubtful if this is really its native name. The aye-aye was long a puzzle to naturalists, but is now classed as a lemuroid.: Photo by A. S, Rudland & Sons, TARSIER. These little animals hop about in the trees like frogs. They are nocturnal, and seldom seen. THE living races of animals have thus far been reviewed along the completed list of the first great order—the Primates. Even in that circumscribed group how great is the tendency to depart from the main type, and how wonderful the adaptation to meet the various needs of the creatures’ environment! The skeletons, the frames on which these various beings are built up, remain the same in character; but the differences of proportion in the limbs, of the muscles with which they are equipped, and of the weight of the bodies to be moved are astonishing. Compare, for instance, the head of the male Gorilla, with its great ridges of bone, to which are attached the muscles which enable it to devour hard tropical fruits and bite off young saplings and bamboos, with the rounded and delicate head of the Insect-eating Monkeys of South Africa; or set side by side the hand of the Chimpanzee with that of the Ayeaye, with its delicate, slender fingers, like those of a skeleton hand. What could be more diverse than the movements of these creatures, whose structure is nevertheless so much alike? Some of the lemuroids are as active as squirrels, flying lightly from branch to branch; in others, as the Slow Lorises, the power of rapid movement has disappeared, and been replaced by a creeping gait which cannot be accelerated. Already, in a single order, we see the rich diversity of nature, and its steady tendency to make all existing The ayeaye lives mainly in the wild things serviceable by adapting other parts of creation to their use *usar-cane groves, and feeds on insects and 6 grubs, as well as on the juice of the sugar-or enjoyment. cane. Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., N. Finchley.