White-Footed Sportive Lemur

White-Footed Sportive Lemur

 

We found this White-Footed Sportive Lemur near one of the lodge paths in Berenty, Madagascar.  As is quite ovious from the size of their eyes they are nocturnal, however they can be seen during the daylight resting in the tree trunks.  Sometimes they are hidden in a hole, but luckily for us some of them are not too shy – though they are quite well camouflaged!

The term “sportive” is a bit misleading as these lemurs spend a lot of time motionless to conserve energy.  This is due to the fact that their diet consists of leaves, which do not provide much energy – so their metabolic rate is very slow.  However they can leap quite acrobatically when they want to, so most probably that is where the name originates from.   We did not witness any of their supposed sportive behaviour though.

Techs: Canon 7D | Canon 300 2.8 IS II | f 2.8 | 1/125 | ISO 200 | Canon 600EX-RT flash (off camera) | Tripod