A lemur of northwestern and eastern Madagascan forests. It is active by day and night and mainly eats fruit.
Males and females share grayish-brown fur, a dark face and orange-red eyes.
At Ankarafantsika National Park in Madagascar, a study followed one troop of brown lemurs for a year. Researchers recorded daytime and nighttime activity, diet, temperature, sunlight, water availability in the forest, and canopy cover, noting behavior every minute. The lemurs were active throughout the day in the rainy season. In the dry season they rested around midday, with activity peaking in the morning and evening.
Late in the dry season, they ate water-rich leaves from an orchid by day, then ate fruit and traveled to fruit patches at night. Daytime activity fell as solar radiation increased and rose with water availability. From these observations, the researcher suggests that midday rest reduced heat stress and water loss, while leaves supplied water and nighttime fruit feeding helped meet energy needs.
IUCN Red List · Vulnerable (VU) · Global
The IUCN's 2020 global assessment classifies the brown lemur as Vulnerable (VU). It changed from Near Threatened (NT) in 2019; the IUCN table attributes the change to a genuine change in the species' status. The current ASM Mammal Diversity Database also lists its IUCN category as Vulnerable.