The 'Good Man' Lemur

This tiny furball is one of two new discovered lemur species found on the island of Madagascar.

Microcebus lehilahytsara, pictured, here, was found in the island's eastern rainforests by German scientists and is named after Steve Goodman (lehilaytsara in Malagasy means "good man"), a Field Museum scientist who has spent nearly twenty years studying these endangered primates.

About the size of a mouse, Lehilahytsara lives in the trees and is active mainly at night.

The second lemur species, Mirza zaza, was discovered when scientists began to suspect that a population of giant mouse lemur that lived in the northern part of Madagascar was distinct from one that lived in the west.

They based their suspicions on slight differences in form and behavior between the two populations, and their hunch was confirmed with genetic analysis. Scientists now think the two populations diverged about 2 million years ago.

Zaza is larger than lehilahytsara, about the size of a gray squirrel, and has a long bushy tail and relatively small ears. Zaza also has large testes, which suggests it is very promiscuous.

Lemurs are the most endangered primates in the world and there are only 49 known species in existence. The two new lemur species are described in current issue of journal Primate Report.

--Ker Than

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Credit: Robert Zingg