Lonely lemurs listen to, understand other species’ warning calls

Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary

While not the brightest of primates, one species of lemur has shown that it can still learn a trick or two, staying safe from predators by heeding the alarm calls of other creatures in the forest.

Of all the species of lemur living on the island of Madagascar only one, Lepilemur sahamalazensis, has been found to exhibit this trait. The solitary, nocturnal creatures were found to respond to the alarm calls of the blue-eyed black lemur and to those from several different species of bird.

A team of researchers from Bristol University, Bristol Zoo, and Torino University in Italy studied the behaviour of the Lepilemur, called the Sahamalaza sportive lemur because of the way it leaps between trees. Their findings have been published in the journal PLoS One.