It gets its name from the reddish-brown “collar” of fur around the neck and cheeks, which stands out against the browner body. Males and females look different. Males have a brownish-gray back with a darker tail, a dark face and crown, and a thick cream-to-rufous beard framing the cheeks and chin. Females are generally warmer brown with a grayish face and a softer reddish beard, so a mixed group has a “two-tone” look: darker, bearded males and redder, sleeker females. Their long, fully furred tails act as balancing poles in the canopy, and their bright orange-red eyes give them a very intense stare.

Collared brown lemurs are cathemeral, meaning they can be active both day and night instead of choosing only one shift. Their schedule changes with the seasons and even with the moon—on bright nights they may move and feed more, while on darker nights they stay quieter. They live in multi-male, multi-female groups that can range from just a couple of animals up to around 20 or more, with no strong female-over-male dominance like in many other lemurs.

Grooming is important for keeping the group together: they use their “tooth comb” (forward-tilted lower front teeth) to comb each other’s fur, cleaning out dirt and parasites and reinforcing social bonds at the same time. Calls, scents from glands, and body language help them stay coordinated as they move through the forest and warn each other of predators like raptors or fossas.

They are largely frugivorous, with fruit often making up around 70% of the diet, but they’re also flexible. They eat leaves, flowers, nectar, bark, soil, insects, and sometimes small vertebrates when fruit is scarce. Because they can handle tough, seasonal environments and even degraded forest, they’re key seed dispersers, especially for large-seeded trees that few other animals can move around; some trees within their range now rely heavily on collared brown lemurs to spread their seeds.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Madagascar

EN

2018