Red-bellied lemur

African animals

Monkeys and lemurs

The red-bellied lemur lives in family groups and once a male and a female have chosen each other, they can live their whole lives together, which is unusual among lemurs. Another unique feature is that when the pair have young, the father carries them as much as the mother. It is easy to tell the difference between males and females as males have white patches under their eyes and brown bellies while females have lighter coloured fur on their bellies. There are more than 20 species of what we call lemurs, but the lemur family includes more than 100 different species. The number of known species in the family has doubled in the last 25 years. Today, about 90% of the species in the lemur family are threatened with extinction and the biggest threat is deforestation and illegal hunting. The park zoo participates in the European breeding programme, EEP, for the conservation of the red-bellied lemur.

CITES A

In situ - conservation in place

Conserving endangered species, and preventing them from becoming extinct, requires efforts at several points in the chain. In the zoo, we can contribute with breeding and research to create a gene bank, while learning more about the species' behaviours and needs. Conservation work in zoos is called ex-situ, which means that the work is carried out outside the species' home range. Conservation measures are also taken in-situ, i.e. in the area where the species lives or has lived in the past.