Red-bellied lemurs

Eulemur rubriventer

The adult red-bellied lemur is about of 34 to 40 centimetres long and a tail length which is almost twenty percent longer than the body itself. Both males and females are chestnut brown in colour but are easily told apart as only males have a red belly while females have a white one.

Here at Wild Place Project we have two Red-bellied lemurs.

You can get up-close to our lemur family in their walk-through enclosure in Discover Madagascar from 10.30am – 3.30pm.

Diet

Similar to other species of lemur the red-bellied lemurs diet in the wild is manily made up of fruit. However they do often forage on plants, flowers, leaves and some small invertebrates.

Habitat

The red-bellied lemur is native to eastern Madagascar. They live in primary and secondary rainforests at medium to high altitudes.

Conservation

The red-bellied lemur is classified at vulnerable. The main threat that they face is habitat loss with almost 90% of the eastern rainforest in Madagascar being destroyed since humans have lived on the island. The forests are mainly being destroyed by slash-and-burn farming, logging and mining. In some areas there is also the threat of hunting.