(CRITICALLY ENDANGERED)Blue-eyed Black Lemur

The Blue-eyed Black Lemur (Eulemur macaco flavifrons), also known as Sclater’s Black Lemur, is a subspecies of Black Lemur and, like many other lemurs, is native to evergreen forests and neighboring agricultural land in the northwestern tip of the African island of Madagascar, including the smaller islands of Nosy Be and Nosy Komba. With its strong hands, prehensile tail, and binocular vision, this house cat-sized animal is perfectly adapted for life in the trees. Males are solid black, while females are rusty brown in color. Both males and females have bright blue eyes and they are the only primate other than humans which has eyes this color.

This true lemur is highly social, living in groups of 4 to 20 individuals. Females are dominant, and there are usually more males than females in each social group. Sclater’s Black Lemur is probably polygynous. Females give birth to one or two offspring in June or July, after a gestation of 120 to 129 days. The young are weaned after about 6 months, and reach maturity at about 2 years of age. The Blue-eyed Black Lemur may live 20 years or more in captivity