Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi)
Verreaux's sifakas are tree-dwelling lemurs of the Madagascan forests. They live and forage for food in small troops, eating almost any plant parts that are above ground. Though adapted for a life spent in spiny trees, these lemurs still have to cross open ground occasionally. They do this up on their hind legs with their forearms held up high for balance. The name sifaka comes from the noisy barking call they make during territorial confrontations.
What do they sound like?
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Dancing sifaka About the Verreaux's sifaka
Verreaux's Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) is a medium sized primate in one of the lemur families, Indriidae. It lives in Madagascar and can be found in a variety of habitats from rainforest to western Madagascar dry deciduous forests and dry and spiny forests. The fur is thick and silky and generally white with brown on the sides, top of the head, and on the arms. Like all sifakas, it has a long tail that it uses as a balance when leaping from tree to tree. However, its body is so highly adapted to an arboreal existence that on the ground its only means of locomotion is hopping. The species lives in small troops which they forage for food with.
There are four sub species of this kind of lemur. There are many things unknown about Verreaux's Sifaka, so their life span in the wild has not been approximated, but in captivity they generally live to become up to 18 years old.
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The Verreaux's sifaka is
- Able to scent mark
- Adapted to jumping
- Arboreal
- Helpless at birth
- Herbivorous
- Hierarchical
- Polygynous
- Seed disperser
- Social
- Territorial
- Viviparous
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
They can be found in the following habitats:
Conservation Status
The Verreaux's sifaka is Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2008
Elsewhere on the web
- Verreauxs sifaka - Propithecus verreauxi (arkive.org)
- Propithecus verreauxi (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Verreaux's sifaka description (endangeredandrareanimals.com)
- IUCN Red List information (iucnredlist.org)
- Verreaux's sifaka fact sheet (theprimata.com)
- Verreaux's Sifaka (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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