LEMURS LOVE THE SUN

Although the heatwave may not be to everyone's liking, the striking ring-tailed lemurs at Drusillas Park at Alfriston are enjoying every minute of it and their new open-topped enclosure is proving the perfect place to take full advantage.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Jul 2006, 10:37 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 22:42 BST

Much like our own beach-going nation, ring-tailed lemurs love to sunbathe and ever since the arrival of the recent hot weather, they have wasted no time basking in the heat with their arms and legs extended in a manner indicative of the lotus position.

Luckily for the lemurs, their new enclosure is the ideal place to enjoy the heat. Located next to Flamingo Lagoon, the design has been tailor-made with large resting platforms and an open-air outdoor area offering uninterrupted sunshine.

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Unlike humans, lemurs' bodies are perfectly adjusted to cope with a hot climate needing very little water to survive.

With temperatures often climbing over 30 degrees in Madagascar, the conditions have not quite reached the dizzy heights common in the lemurs' homeland. However, just to be safe the keepers have frozen fruit for the lemurs into giant fruit juice lollipops. This not only helps keep the lemurs cool, it also offers enrichment to their daily lives, by encouraging them to work a little harder for their food as they would in the wild.

Like many primates, ring-tailed lemurs are now under threat of extinction in the wild. There are a number of reasons for this, although forest clearance and illegal hunting is mainly to blame. As a result, many projects for primate conservation have been set up and the ring-tailed lemurs at Drusillas form part of a European breeding programme.