From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (JKF)
Subject: Re: Lemur Tail Tales (was Re: Joey the Lemur...)
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Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 19:33:03 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.083605.26304@netcom.com> boulton@netcom.com (David A. Boulton) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec15.041343.17227@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (JKF
>>) writes:
>>>In article <1992Dec10.091345.13310@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> franklir@helium.g
>>as.uug.arizona.edu (Ryan J Franklin ) writes:
>>>>
>>>>Incidentally, can anyone tell me if a lemur's tail is partially prehensile?
>>>
>>>As far as I can tell from this book I checked out called "Lemurs And You,"
>>>lemur tails are not prehensile.  Instead they use their little paws to
>>>cling to things that need clinging to... ceiling lamps, Cindy Crawford,
>>>Twinkies, etc...
>> 
>>Hm.  Then, apart from looking really nice, what purpose do their tails
>>serve?  They seem to be rather inconvenient whilst leeming, as I mentioned
>>before, and even something as simple as being able to use it as a way of
>>stabilizing themselves when climbing or clinging would go a long way towards
>>explaining this prosimian puzzle.
> 
>I don't know about Joey, Rudolpho, and other urban, twinkie-addicted 
>lemurs, but in the wild lemur tails have at least two purposes that 
>I am aware of. 
> 
>As you guessed, one use is for keeping their balance, sort of like a 
>high-wire walker using a pole. Lemurs (even with those nice 
>opposable thumbs) aren't very good at constructing balance poles, so 
>they use their tails to swish around, maintain balance, and prevent 
>their crashing to the ground. Most lemurs greatly appreciate not 
>crashing to the ground, (not to mention its Darwinian survival 
>value) and over time they evolved large, bushy tails with extra good 
>swishing capability. 

Aha!  That makes sense.  I just shared this information with Rudolpho and
Nigel and they looked really excited and stared at each other with their
big Lemur eyes and said "frink."  I think they were very pleased to have
finally been informed of the Reason for Tails.  (Urban lemurs don't get
the Lemur-culture education that rural lemurs do.)

>The other reason to have a very long tail is for inter-lemur 
>communications while leeming across the ground. Lemurs generally 
>live in social groups. They watch out for one another, and have an 
>advantage against predators if the group stays together. Some act as 
>look-outs while others feed, and so on. When feeding on the ground, 
>especially while moving through tall grass, it's easy to get lost 
>from the group. A long tail acts as a sort of flagpole. You stick 
>your tail in the air, and silently say  "Yo! I'm a lemur, I'm over 
>here, stay with me, and everything will be cool". The absence of 
>lemur tails in your general vicinity would tell you that you had 
>better leem your butt back to the rest of the troop. 
> 
>This is why ringtails have rings on their tails. It makes them more 
>visible. There is also a theory that the black and white coloration 
>works on the same principle as zebra stripes. Dazzle whatever is 
>chasing you with a sea of bouncing/leeming lemur tails, and maybe 
>he'll miss -- or at least maybe he will miss *you*. 

Humans have evolved no such defense mechanism.  Lemurs have.  Perhaps this
is God's way of saying "Lemurs are cuter than human beings."

>Also, and most important of all, lemur tails look *really* nice. 

Exactly.
Xref: sparky alt.fan.lemurs:243 rec.pets:4078 sci.bio:4648 sci.misc:1909