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The woolly lemurs, also known as avahis or woolly indris, are nine species of strepsirrhini in the genus Avahi. Like all other , they live only on the island of Madagascar.
The woolly lemurs are the smallest indriidae with a body size of and a weight of . Their fur is short and woolly. The body can be grey-brown to reddish, with white on the back of the thighs, with a long, orange tail. The head is round with a short muzzle and ears hidden in the fur.
Woolly lemurs can be found in humid and dry forests, spending most of their time in the leafy copse. Like many folivore, they need long naps to digest their food. Woolly lemurs live together in groups of two to five animals, often consisting of parents and several generations of their offspring.
Like all indriids, the woolly lemurs are strictly herbivore, eating predominantly leaves but also buds and, rarely, flowers.
Males and females live in pairs. Groups consisting of the mating pair and their offspring generally sleep together during the day in tree forks, vine tangles, and dense tree crowns. Although likely, extrapair copulations (which exist in other pair-living nocturnal lemurs, e.g. the Masoala fork-marked lemur ( Phaner furcifer) and the fat-tailed dwarf lemur ( Cheirogaleus medius)) have not been demonstrated in Avahi species. The gestation period is four to five months, with births usually in September. In the first few months, the young rides on its mother's back. After about six months, it is weaning and can live independently after a year, although it will typically live in proximity to its mother for another year. Overall life expectancy is not known.
On November 11, 2005, a research team that discovered a new species of woolly lemur in 1990 in western Madagascar named the species Bemaraha woolly lemur ( Avahi cleesei), after actor John Cleese, in recognition of Cleese's work to save lemurs in the wild. In 2006, a taxonomic revision of eastern avahis based on genetic and morphological analyses led to the identification of two additional species: A. meridionalis and A. peyrierasi. Further taxonomic revision increased the number of species by adding A. ramanantsoavanai and A. betsileo. Finally, a new species was discovered in the Masoala peninsula, Moore's woolly lemur ( A. mooreorum).
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