The face is black with some whitish hairs, and the ears are prominent and tufted. Infants cling to their mothers' bellies for the first 3 weeks, shifting only to nurse. At approximately 3 weeks of age, the young lemurs will begin spending time riding, jockey style, on mom's back, and then will take their first tentative steps. With this hint of independence, infants begin to taste solid food, sampling bits of whatever the other members of their group are eating. Nursing continues, in a steady decline in importance in the infant's diet, until the infant is weaned in December at 5 - 6 months old.
Groups usually contain two adults of each sex, but typically only one female reproduces each year.
Males will occasionally switch groups during the mating season. Within the group, females are usually dominant to males, giving them preferential access to food and the choice of whom to mate with. Social bonds within the group are established and reinforced by grooming. Golden-crowned sifaka have a very restricted distribution. This species is limited to forest patches between the Loky and Manambato Rivers in northeastern Madagascar.