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Extinct lemurs found alive.

Extended habitat for the greater bamboo lemur: NGOs


October 5, 2009


A Coquerel's sifaka, an endangered, acrobatic, tree-dwelling Lemur
named for its distinctive alarm call, holds on to a tree trunk at the
Ankafarantsika national park in 2008.

A Coquerel's sifaka, an endangered, acrobatic, tree-dwelling Lemur
named for its distinctive alarm call, holds on to a tree trunk at the
Ankafarantsika national park in 2008.
Photograph by: Gregoire Pourtier, AFP

NAIROBI – One of the world's most endangered primates, the greater
bamboo lemur, a species endemic to Madagascar, has been found in an
area where it was feared extinct, environmental organisations said
Monday.

The species, "prolemur simus", has been found at 11 sites in a swathe
of forest in the east of the island.

This finding opens "a new chapter for the species and for the places we
can protect it by preserving the forest as the main problem is loss of
habitat," Mahaoly Ravaloharimanitra, a research assistant at the
Aspinall Foundation, told AFP.

Illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture are among the practices
that threaten the survival of this species. Primate specialists say
that while this type of lemur was once found throughout this Indian
Ocean island, now no more than 300 individuals are still in existence.

As its common name suggests, prolemur simus feeds mainly on bamboo,
which limits its habitat options.

"They are very secretive, which makes it difficult to approach them and
protect them. Most of the time we don't see the animal, just traces of
food or droppings," Tovanahary Rasolofoharivelo from Conservation
International told AFP.

The greater bamboo lemur was thought to be extinct until it was
rediscovered in the 1980s, the two associations said in a statement.

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