Eulemur coronatus
Creators: name: Russell A. Mittermeier
name: Anthony B. Rylands
name: Don E. Wilson
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Primates
Lemuridae
Eulemur
Eulemur coronatus

description: 17.
Crowned Lemur
Eulemur coronatus
French: Lémur couronné / German: Kronenmaki / Spanish: Lémur coronado
Taxonomy. Lemur coronatus Gray, 1842,
Madagascar, 15° 14’ S.
An albinistic mutation, with entirely white pelage except for an orange frontal bar, has been reported. Monotypic.
Distribution. N Madagascar from the Cap d’Ambre Peninsula S along the E bank of the Mahavavy River beyond Ambilobe, with the E part of the distribution extending S along the Manambato River, S of Daraina, to just N of Sambava.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 34-36 cm, tail 41-49 cm; weight 1-3 kg. The Crowned Lemur is sexually dichromatic. In males, the dorsal coat is gray-brown, becoming a richer chestnut-brown on the flanks and limbs and darker on the tail. The ventral coat is a paler, creamy-gray. Only the tip of the muzzle is black, and the face and ears are pale gray to white. An orange-brown, forward-pointing, V-shaped crown runs from the eyebrows alongside the ears and onto the cheeks. There is a dark gray to black patch in the center of the crown. Eyes are encircled by orangey-red rings. In females, the dorsal coat, flanks, limbs, tail, top of the head, and cheeks are gray. The tail darkens toward the tip. The ventral coat, face, and ears are paler gray to creamy-white. The nose is black, and the muzzle is dark gray. The V-shaped marking above the forehead is a chestnut-orange, but it is less prominent on the females than on the males and does not curve around to the cheeks. Ears of both sexes are large, white, and prominent. The tail is long and bushy.
Habitat. Prefers semi-deciduous dry lowland and mid-altitude forest, but may be found in practically all forest types from sea level to elevations of 1400 m, including highaltitude tropical moist forest, wooded savanna, and agricultural areas. The Crowned Lemur inhabits all levels of the forest, butit is most likely to be found in lianas and thick cover and on terminal branches. It also readily descends to the ground to travel, eat fallen fruit, or lick soil. It can even be seen delicately moving through some of the knife-edged karst “tsingys” that occur within its distribution, especially in the Ankarana region. The Crowned Lemur is sympatric with Sanford’s Brown Lemur (E. sanfordi) but they differ in that the Crowned Lemurlives in most patches of forest throughout its distribution and in more open and drier habitats.
Food and Feeding. Diets of the Crowned Lemur consist mainly offruits, supplemented with young leaves, flowers, and pollen. Insects and soil are also eaten on occasion. Individuals tend to rely most heavily on 10-20% of the nearly 100 plant species they eat, and they feed more on flowers during the dry season than at other times of the year. The Crowned Lemur is known to raid farms and plantations.
Breeding. Females have a 34day reproductive cycle. The vulva is closed during an estrus. In Ankarana and Montagne d’Ambre, mating occurs in May and early June, and births take place from mid-September through October. Gestation is ¢.125 days. One or two young are born, each weighing ¢.60 g. Weaning occurs at 6-7 months. Males and females reach sexual maturity at ¢.20 months.
Activity patterns. The Crowned Lemur is arboreal and cathemeral. It is mainly active during the day but also at dusk and during the night throughout the year.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Crowned Lemur has been studied in the dry forests of Ankarana and Sakalava Bay and the humid forests on Montagne d’Ambre. Home rangesize is 10-15 ha. Social groups consist of either large multimale-multifemale groups, or small monogamous pairs and their offspring. Group size does not appearto differ significantly between habitat types; average group size is five or six individuals, with a maximum of c.15 individuals. Large multimale-multifemale groups often split into foraging subgroups of 2—4 individuals. The Crowned Lemur is one of only three species of Fulemur that show features of female dominance. Mixed-species associations with Sanford’s Brown Lemur are reported during the wet season when food resources are more readily available. Several estimates of density have been made: 77 ind/km? in the Analamerana Special Reserve, 104 ind/km? in the humid forests of Montagne d’Ambre, and 221 ind/km* (and even higher in small areas of selectively logged forest) in the Ankarana Special Reserve. A more recent study at Analamerana yielded estimates of 21-25 ind/km?.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix I. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. However, at the IUCN/SSC Lemur Red-Listing Workshop held in July 2012, E. coronatus was assessed as endangered. The Crowned Lemur is threatened mainly by habitat loss from slash-and-burn agriculture, logging, and mining, and capture for the local pet trade (especially in the Antsiranana region). They are hunted for food and persecuted for their occasional raids on crops. Indeed, hunting has lately become a major problem in the Daraina area, where a number of Crowned Lemurs were recently killed to serve a luxury restaurant trade in Sambava. They occur in Montagne d’Ambre National Park, three special reserves (Analamerana, Ankarana, and Forét d’Ambre), and the forests of Daraina (Loky-Manambato protected area).
Bibliography. Arbelot-Tracqui (1983), Banks (2005), Fowler et al. (1989), Freed (1996), Harcourt & Thornback (1990), Hawkins et al. (1990), Kappeler (1987, 1993), Mittermeier et al. (2010), Nicoll & Langrand (1989), Petter et al. (1977), Terranova & Coffman (1997), Wilson, Godfrey et al. (1995), Wilson, Stewart et al. (1989).
description: Published as part of Russell A. Mittermeier, Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson, 2013, Lemuridae, pp. 90-141 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 3 Primates, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 137, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6638668