Red-bellied lemur
Eulemur rubriventer
Red-bellied lemurs are sexually dimorphic. This means it is easy to tell males and females apart as they look different. Males have white patches around their eyes and a red ‘belly’ whereas females have white stomachs and no eye patches.
Females are dominant over males, they take priority when feeding and it is the female who usually leads the group from place to place. Females carry their infants for their first 20 to 30 days but then give them to the males to carry for the next 100 days.
Body length is up to 400 millimetres (mm), with tails reaching up to 500mm. Lemurs can weigh up to 2.2 kilograms.
IUCN red list status
The IUCN status of the vicuña is vulnerable.
For more info on classifications visit www.iucnredlist.org.
Animal class
Mammal
Conservation status
The IUCN believes the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. These lemurs are listed under Appendix I of CITES.
Habitat
Rainforest
Population
Their population is declining, but there are still believed to be between 10,000 and 30,000 red-bellied lemurs left in the wild.
Diet
Herbivore/Insectivore. Red-bellied lemurs eat ripe fruit but will also eat leaves, nectar, fungi and small invertebrates.