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Many strange animals live on an island east of Africa. Some run across tree branches. Others soar from tree to tree. A few of them dance, hop, and skip on the ground. These lively animals are lemurs.

Lemurs live in only one place in the wild. It's the island of Madagascar. About 60 kinds of lemurs are known to live there.

There may be more. A few years ago, a National Geographic scientist found a new kind of lemur. It is one of the smallest ones known. It would fit in your shirt pocket.

Despite their differences, lemurs have much in common. Most lemurs have a thin body, a pointy nose, and big eyes. Let's meet a few of these cool creatures.

We'll start with the aye-aye. It may be the strangest lemur of all. Some people say it looks like a monster! That's just an image problem.

The aye-aye has long, crooked fingers with big claws. That's not all. This lemur comes out at night. That means it is nocturnal.

You shouldn't worry about the aye-aye, though. It mostly eats plants and young insects.

Finding a meal can be hard work. A hungry aye-aye scrambles through trees looking for hollow spots. As it moves, the aye-aye taps a tree with its long fingers. If it hears a hollow spot, it knows bugs might be under the bark.

To find out, the aye-aye bites into the tree. Its sharp teeth rip open a hole. Then it uses its long fingers to scoop up the insects. Yum!

Not all lemurs come out at night. Take the indri, for example. It's diurnal, or active in daylight.

The indri is the largest lemur. It is about two feet long. It can weigh almost 20 pounds.

This lemur does not eat meat—not even insects. It is a herbivore. It chomps on leaves, flowers, and fruits.

The indri also eats something you would never think of as food. Now and then, it dashes to the ground to snack on clumps of dirt!

Like most lemurs, sifakas spend much of their time in trees. There, they use their long legs to jump from tree to tree. They can cover about 20 feet in one leap.

Sifakas get around on the ground as well. At times, they stand upright and hop around. This makes it look as though they are dancing.

Black-and-white ruffed lemurs also spend most of their time in trees. They walk or run across branches, looking for food. These lemurs munch on fruits, leaves, and seeds. They sip nectar. They rarely come to the ground.

Lemurs have many differences. Yet many have one sad thing in common. They are at risk of dying out. That means they are endangered.

What's threatening lemurs? Habitat loss is the biggest problem lemurs face. A habitat is a place where a plant or animal lives. People are taking over lemur habitats.

Some people are moving to the forests where lemurs live. There, they cut down the trees to build farms and homes. Without trees, lemurs have problems finding food and homes. As a result, many lemur populations are shrinking. There may now be too few for some kinds of lemurs to survive.

To save lemurs, a group of scientists from Duke University stepped in. The scientists had a wild idea. Why not send some lemurs living in zoos to Madagascar?

The idea sounded good, but there was one problem. The lemurs had grown up in zoos in America. They had never lived in the wild. They did not know how to survive in the forests of Madagascar.

To solve this problem, the scientists sent the lemurs to "school." The school was located in a forest in North Carolina.

There, the lemurs learned how to live in a forest. They practiced climbing trees. They looked for food. They lived with other kinds of animals. They got a taste of the wild life.

Finally, the lemurs had learned their lessons. They were ready for a trip to Madagascar. How would they do? No one knew. Life in the wild is tough. One mistake can be your last.

At first, the lemurs had a hard time. They had trouble finding food, for example. Scientists soon solved that problem. They fed the lemurs Monkey Chow. Soon, the lemurs caught on. Most of them were finding and feasting on wild fruits and plants.

Finding food wasn't the only problem. It wasn't long before some of the lemurs came face-to-face with the island's fiercest predator. It's called the fossa.

The American lemurs had never seen a fossa before. Fossas do not live in North Carolina. The lemurs did not know what to do. Should they run away? Should they stay to play? Many were eaten by hungry fossas.

Some survived. Five of the American lemurs are doing great. Two of them are now parents! That means more lemurs may soon be leaping through the trees in the wilds of Madagascar.

Article by Rene Ebersole. Top-of-page photo by M & C Denis-Huot/Peter Arnold, Inc. "Lemurs" appears on pages 18-23 of our October 2005 issue.

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