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Indri - INDRI INDRI
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The word "Indri": A Malagasay native cried "Look!" ("Indri!") to a French naturalist, and the Frenchman thought that the word for the animal was "indri." And so it stuck.
Description: The coat of this primate, the largest of the prosimians (pre-apes), is long and rather bristly, dark brownish gray or black, with distinctive white areas around the ears, shoulders, arms, and hindquarters. The snout is pointed and completely hairless, and the eyes are large. The feet and hands have very strong big toes and thumbs, respectively. Length of head and body is two to three feet, with the small tail adding only another two or three inches. It weighs 11 to 16 pounds, with the female somewhat smaller.
Location: Northeastern Madagascar.
Habitat: Arboreal. Forest, from sea level to 6000 feet altitude.
Behavior: This may be the only Malagasy primate that is exclusively diurnal. Its diet is entirely vegetarian, made up of leaves, fruit, and flowers. During certain times of year, especially when other foods are scarce, the indri uses its tooth comb to obtain bark from dead wood to add nutrition and roughage to its diet. It lives in trees in small groups, in pairs, or all alone. It is territorial and in order to mark its territory it makes shrill cries. It rarely descends to the ground, and when it does so, it walks in an upright position, making its way forward by lateral hopping.
Reproduction: Little is known about its reproductive habits, but the females generally gives birth to a single offspring after a gestation period of about 60 days.
Note: This species is threatened with extinction because of the changes to its natural environment.
Go to the Primates Page to learn more about the other man-like animals.
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