This week, we’re talking about lemurs — those creatures which resemble a cross between cats and monkeys, and are found only on the island of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. Though lemurs are members of the primate family, they have some truly un-primate-like behaviors, including the ability to produce strong smelling chemicals which they use, like cats, to mark their territory. But for one species, the ring tailed lemur, simply leaving scent marks is sometimes not enough. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“The most exciting thing that happens is they have stink fights or battles or sometimes wars.”
Patricia Wright is a professor of anthropology at the State University of New York. She tells us that ring tailed lemurs, which live in family-like groups, actually engage in territorial battles. They begin by covering their tails with the scented chemicals they’ve secreted.
“Then when their tails are smelling really good, they put the tail over their back and they start to wave it like they were trying to spread the smell everywhere. And there are up to forty in a group, and so all the animals in the group start doing this with their tails, and then the other side starts doing it with their tails and they start marching towards each other, slowly, with the scents going everywhere. And then all of a sudden, they’ll just stop and then they’ll decide whether to charge or not. Sometimes they do, sometimes, they don’t. It has to do with something that’s being transmitted in this smelling signal, but we don’t know quite what it is, but very dramatic to see. You see, these tails are striped. So not only do they smell bad, but they also look very dramatic.”
Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.