Dramatic Dancing Lemur

Dramatic Dancing Lemur

 

When I visited Madagascar, one of the top shots I wanted was of the Verreaux’s Sifakas “dancing”. One of the best places to observe this behaviour is at Berenty Reserve, located in the far south of the island.  It turns out these Sifakas are very reluctant performers, especially when their audience comprises of eager photographers with big lenses! So it took a lot of waiting in the scorching sun to get the shots that I wanted.  Somehow I felt compelled to do this multiple times resulting in hundreds of photos of sifakas frozen in all sorts of bizarre poses.

Where does the name “Sifaka” come from? It is pretty simple actually as when they vocalize it actually sounds as if they are saying “shi-fahk”. If you are in a particularly inquisitive mood and are also wondering about why they “dance” then please read one of my previous blog posts where I give an explanation for this bizarre behaviour.  It also comes with another photo of a sifaka frozen mid-stride.   http://www.alisonbuttigieg.com/2014/02/18/strictly-come-dancing/  

This beautiful animal is unfortunately classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red list. As with much flora and fauna in Madagascar a very real threat to the sifakas is habitat destruction which sadly takes place at an extremely alarming rate on this island.

Techs: Canon 7D | Canon 300 2.8 IS II | f 4.5 | 1/2500s | ISO 200