Females have gray heads, forelimbs and shoulders, with a dark back and a white beard.
Males are generally darker with a reddish-brown beard.
In the wild, infants are born in mid-October. Infants cling to their mothers' bellies for the first 3 weeks, shifting only to nurse. At approximately 5 weeks of age, the young lemurs 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 at approximately 5 - 6 months of age.