Camera Critters

It's Saturday and it's Camera Critters time!

Off to the Houston Zoo again
and a visit to one of my favorite lemurs
and one of the Zoo's newest:
the Coquerel Sifaka.




The Houston Zoo is one of only a handful of places in the world where you can see this highly endangered primate from Madagascar, made famous by the PBS television series Zoboomafoo, featuring the Kratt brothers and their Coquerel's sifaka, (cock-er-al's she-fak) mascot.

Sifaka differ from other lemurs in the way they move, using a form of locomotion called vertical clinging and leaping. They leap in an upright position from one vertical branch or trunk to another, using their powerful back legs to propel them over twenty feet in one jump. When they move on the ground, they skip or bound on their hind legs. They look like they are jumping with a pogo stick (remember those?)!

Sifakas are plant-eaters. Leaves are their favorite food, and make up most of their diet in the dry season (along with tree bark). In the wet season these primates also eat fruits and flowers. They find much of their food in the treetops, but also occasionally search for food on the ground.
When eating, sifakas rarely use their hands to handle their meal. Instead, they usually grab the food directly with their mouth. The Houston Zoo's sifakas have a favorite treat -- the chickpea or garbanzo bean. They love them.

Like many other types of sifaka, the Coquerel's sifaka is in danger of extinction in the wild. These animals suffer from continued habitat loss, as their forest homes are logged for timber and turned into farmland.

Here's a video from You Tube and the Houston Zoo: