Ring-tailed lemurs are primates like us in spite of the fact that they look more like cats.
A group of ring-tailed lemurs in the Toronto Zoo.
Like most lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs come from Madagascar where they are endemic. I find the hind feet of the ring-taled lemur with their opposable big toes that are obviously for grabbing an interesting feature.
The ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
Ring-tailed lemurs have a long tail which does look like a cat’s tail. Their face resembles a mix between a cat, a dog and perhaps there is some monkey in there.
The face of a ring-tailed lemur.
Ring-tailed lemours do well in the wild — at least compared to other lemurs. Since their range is limited to a small section of Madagascar they are considered to be a near threatened.
Zoos like to keep ring-tailed lemurs because they are nice looking creatures that are smarter than people used to think they were, so they are interesting to watch for a while. Being highly social animals they do best in groups that includes dozens of individuals. The Toronto Zoo certainly seems to keep a large number of them together.
Ring-tailed lemurs have a certain cuteness, probably this is why a ring-tailed lemur was chosen as the character Zoboomafoo on a children’s TV program of the same title (around here you can watch it on TVO).
Further Readings:
Ring-tailed lemur on ARKIVE.
Ring-tailed lemur on the Toronto Zoo website.
Ring-tailed lemur Lemur catta.