Found only on the African island of Madagascar and some tiny neighbouring islands, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) has a long, bushy, black-and-white, ringed tail. ‘Lemur’ means ‘ghost’, ‘spirit of the dead’ or 'spirit of the night' and was chosen because early explorers in Madagascar thought its loud calls were made by spirits in the forest canopy. So the scientific name lemur catta translates as 'ghost cat'. The lemur has cat-like qualities such as purring, meowing, walking on all fours, and a propensity for grooming. The ring-tailed lemur is highly communicative and has around 30 distinct types of calls. It lives in troops of up to 30, where a dominant female is the boss.
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