August is wintertime on the island of Madagascar, just off the eastern coast of Africa. And in the cool early mornings, strange and eerie sounds are emanating from the treetops. They are the sounds of lemurs, primates which take their name from the local word for ghost. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
Patricia Wright is a professor of anthropology at the State University of New York.
“Lemurs sound like ghosts. If you’re standing in the forest, you may suddenly hear the incredible eerie sound of the Indri. Or, you may hear the barking roar of the Black and White Ruff lemur. But whatever it is, it sounds like it’s from another world.”
Mated pairs of Indri Lemurs call back and forth, announcing their presence and marking their territory, as if to say, “If you’re within the sound of my voice, this is our part of the forest.”
“The Indri gives an almost clarinet-like sound. It’s like a haunting sound that reverberates throughout the forest. And they give the sound together, so it’s like an orchestra of clarinets. And first one group starts, then another and then another. And then within half an hour, you know where all the groups are that day. But if you didn’t know what kind of animal they were, you’d be really curious, because they are very strange sounds.”
Virtually all species of lemurs are being threatened by loss of habitat and hunting.
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.