Appearance
This species has a distinctive brown-orange crown on the top of the head. Females have a gray body with an orange crown, and males are a darker reddish brown, crowned with black and orange.This member of the ''Eulemur'' genus is primarily diurnal but has periods of feeding activity at night too.
The crowned lemur is in the order of Primates as it possesses characteristics such as pseudo-opposable thumbs, binocular vision and is highly intelligent. ''E. coronatus'' shares with others of the family Lemuridae long and slender limbs, a slightly longer nose, a smaller brain and a 'grooming comb' formed by the incisors and canine teeth.
The crowned lemur possesses a long non-prehensile tail used for balance when jumping from branch to branch and for communication within the closely knit, female-led social group.
Status
The population is estimated to 1000-10,000 individuals as of 2004, most of which live within the Ankarana Plateau although there is also a population on the Montagne d'Ambre.
Habitat
''E. coronatus'' can be found anywhere in the tropical dry forests of the Ankarana Reserve to the mid-altitude rainforests of Montagne d'Ambre. They can be found at altitudes between sea level and 1,400 m. Crowned lemurs live in sympatry with the ''Eulemur sanfordi'' , sharing the same habitat. Sanford brown lemurs are distinguishable by color as they are more gray and brown with no v-shaped crown on their forehead. The male Sanford lemur also have characteristic white ruffs around their ears and cheeks that are absent from the crowned lemurs.The crowned lemurs of Ankarana Reserve are the only lemurs in this region known to traverse the razor-sharp ''tsingy'' as they head into the forest early in the morning and as they leave the forest just before sunset to settle in the safer canyon forest in the center of these rock fields for the night.
Reproduction
Crowned lemurs have a life span of approximately 20 years and reach sexual maturity after 20 months. They give birth usually in late September or early October, after a gestation period of 125 days.References:
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