It was given to these animals because of the silent, ghostlike way they move about, mainly at night. The lemurs are classified as primates, the group that also includes monkeys, apes, and humans. Most of them have tails, but they cannot hang from trees by them as some monkeys can. The only true lemurs are those classified in one of the three genera and nine species of the family Lemuridae, but there are many similar species in other families. The true lemurs, however, are found only on the island of Madagascar and the nearby Comoros.
Lemurs eat leaves, fruits, insects, small reptiles, birds, and birds' eggs.
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