Their identification was made during a scientific survey of the island's western forests and later confirmed by genetic tests. Lemurs are primitive primates that live in trees and are found only on the island of Madagascar and the nearby Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa. Many of the animals, which have long noses, agile limbs, and piercing round eyes, are endangered because their forest habitat is being destroyed. The scientists' survey found seven different mouse lemur species, including three new to science. Scientists believe Madagascar split off from the continent of Africa about 165 million years ago making the island a significant site for the study of evolutionary biology.
Lemurs are particularly important because they are the most primitive of living primates.
Some of their fossils date back about 58 million years. However, many animal species, not just the lemurs, may struggle to survive on Madagascar in the future. The three new species of mouse lemur are Microcebus berthae , Microcebus sambiranensis , and Microcebus tavaratra . Their discovery is reported in the December edition of the International Journal of Primatology.