Lemur Refuge

We visited an animal refugue on Ile Bouzi, an islet in the east of Mayotte which is home to hundreds of lemurs, locally called makis. Lemurs are the very cute orange-eyed, fluffy long-tailed agile critters that are a suborder of primates and are only found in Madagascar and the Comoros. Alas, because of habitat destruction and poaching their numbers are dwindling and there is the need to protect them. The refuge feeds them a little every day so that they come back and can be monitored. But they remain independent and go foraging for food too. They live in family groups with a dominant female. The young are born around September - October which coincides with the rainy season when more food is available. The lemurs in the refuge are very happy and their numbers on Bouzi are increasing. For more info check out their website: http://lesmakisdemayotte.ipfixe.com. We do have a short movie available if you email us.

Casper wrote a short piece about the lemurs.