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Lots of animals live on an island east of Africa. Many run on branches. Others soar through the air. Some hop on the ground. They are all lemurs.

Wild lemurs live only on the island of Madagascar. You will find about 60 kinds of lemurs there. Scientists found two new kinds of lemurs last summer. Now let's meet a few lemurs.

We'll start with the aye-aye. It has long, crooked fingers with big claws. It comes out only at night. That means it is nocturnal.

Finding a meal can be hard work. An aye-aye taps on a tree trunk, looking for hollow spots. It knows insects might live in hollow spots.

To find out, the aye-aye bites into the tree. It makes a hole. Then it uses its long fingers to scoop up the insects. Yum!

Not all lemurs come out at night. For example, the indri is mostly active during the day. It is diurnal.

The indri is the largest lemur. It is about two feet long. It weighs almost 20 pounds. It eats leaves, flowers, and fruits. Sometimes it also eats dirt! No one knows why.

The sifaka is another kind of lemur. It uses its long legs to jump from tree to tree. It can go 20 feet in one leap.

A sifaka does not just leap through trees. It stands on its two back legs. Then it also hops on the ground. This makes it look like it is dancing.

Not all is well with these and other lemurs. They may die out. That means they are endangered.

Habitat loss is the biggest problem lemurs face. A habitat is a place where a plant or animal lives. People are moving into places where lemurs live. As a result, lemurs have fewer places to live.

A group of scientists is trying to help lemurs. They sent lemurs from American zoos to Madagascar.

Before going to the island, however, the lemurs had to learn how to live in the wild. They had to go to a special "school."

There, the lemurs learned to live in a forest. They climbed trees. They looked for food. They lived with other animals.

Finally, the lemurs were ready. How would they do? No one knew.

The lemurs had a hard time at first. They did not always find food. So scientists fed them Monkey Chow. Soon, the lemurs learned to find their own food.

The lemurs had other problems. Another wild animal hunted them. The fossa is a predator. It eats lemurs.

The American lemurs had never seen a fossa before. They did not know what to do. Many were eaten.

Still, some survived. Five lemurs are doing fine. Two of them are now parents. That means more lemurs.

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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