What is "woolly lemur"

Woolly \Wool"ly\, a.

1. Consisting of wool; as, a woolly covering; a woolly fleece.

2. Resembling wool; of the nature of wool. ``My fleece of woolly hair.''
   --Shak.

3. Clothed with wool. ``Woolly breeders.''
   --Shak.

4. (Bot.) Clothed with a fine, curly pubescence resembling wool.

   Woolly bear (Zo["o]l.), the hairy larva of several species of bombycid moths. The most common species in the United States are the salt-marsh caterpillar (see under Salt), the black and red woolly bear, or larva of the Isabella moth (see Illust., under Isabella Moth), and the yellow woolly bear, or larva of the American ermine moth ( Spilosoma Virginica).

   Woolly butt (Bot.), an Australian tree ( Eucalyptus longifolia), so named because of its fibrous bark.

   Woolly louse (Zo["o]l.), a plant louse ( Schizoneura lanigera syn Erisoma lanigera) which is often very injurious to the apple tree. It is covered with a dense coat of white filaments somewhat resembling fine wool or cotton. In exists in two forms, one of which infests the roots, the other the branches. See Illust. under Blight.

   Woolly macaco (Zo["o]l.), the mongoose lemur.

   Woolly maki (Zo["o]l.), a long-tailed lemur ( Indris laniger) native of Madagascar, having fur somewhat like wool; -- called also avahi, and woolly lemur.

   Woolly monkey (Zo["o]l.), any South American monkey of the genus Lagothrix, as the caparro.

   Woolly rhinoceros (Paleon.), an extinct rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros tichorhinus) which inhabited the arctic regions, and was covered with a dense coat of woolly hair. It has been found frozen in the ice of Siberia, with the flesh and hair well preserved.

The woolly lemurs, also known as avahis or woolly indris, are nine species of strepsirrhine primates in the genus Avahi. Like all other lemurs, they live only on the island of Madagascar.

With a body size of 30 to 50 cm and a weight of 600 to 1200 g, the woolly lemurs are the smallest indriids. 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 both humid and dry forests, spending most of their time in the leafy copse. Like many leafeaters, they need long naps to digest their food. Woolly lemurs live together in groups of two to five animals, which often consist of parents and several generations of their offspring.

Like all indriids, the woolly lemurs are strictly herbivorous, eating predominantly leaves, but also buds and, rarely, flowers.

Males and females live in pairs. Although likely, the presence of 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)) has never been demonstrated in Avahi species. The gestation period is four to five months, with births usually coming in September. In the first few months, the young rides on the back of its mother. After about six months, it is weaned, and can live independently after a year, although it will typically live for another year in proximity to its mother. 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 extra species: A. meridionalis and A. peyrierasi. Further taxonomic revision increased the number of species, by adding A. ramanantsoavana and A. betsileo. Finally a new species was discovered in the Masoala peninsula, Moore's woolly lemur (A. mooreorum).