American baboon lemur

The **American baboon lemur** (*Papiotheriopithecus americanum*) is a species of adapiform primate, despite its name, that originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the open woodlands, grasslands, shrublands, and scrublands across North America to help boost biodiversity. The American baboon lemur is a very large member of its family, weighing 40–70 kilograms (88–154 lb) for males and 27–50 kilograms (60–110 lb) for females and standing 120 to 150 centimeters (3 feet 11 inches to 4 feet 11 inches) when standing on their back legs. The American baboon lemurs communicate with various vocalizations and facial expressions, similarly to baboons. The American baboon lemur is omnivorous and will eat practically anything. As such, it is able to find nutrition in almost any environment and is able to adapt with different foraging tactics. For instance, the American baboon lemur in grassland goes about finding food differently from one in a forest. The American baboon lemur forages on all levels of an environment, above and beneath the ground and in the canopy of forests. The American baboon lemur searches as wide an area as it can, and it eats virtually everything it finds. The diet typically includes a large variety of plants, and invertebrates and small mammals, as well as birds. The American baboon lemur eats leaves, grass, roots, bark, flowers, fruit, lichens, tubers, seeds, mushrooms, corms, and rhizomes. Corms and rhizomes are especially important in times of drought, because grass loses a great deal of its nutritional value. In dry, arid regions, such as the northeastern deserts, small invertebrates like insects, grubs, worms, spiders, and scorpions fill out its diet. The American baboon lemur also actively hunts prey, such as small rodents, birds and other primates. Its limit is usually small pronghorns, such as common pronghorns, but can occasionally also kill sheep, goats, and chickens from farms, this, however, is decreasing due to persecution. Hunting is usually a group activity, with both males and females participating. This systematic predation is developing in some areas. Such behaviour starts with the males of one troop and spreading through all ages and sexes. The American baboon lemur lives in groups of 15 to 150, made up of a few males, many females, and their young. Each American baboon lemur has a social ranking somewhere in the group, depending on its dominance. Female dominance is hereditary, with daughters having nearly the same rank as their mothers, and adult females forming the core of the social system. Female relatives form their own subgroups in the troop. Related females are largely friendly to each other. They tend to stay close together and groom one another, and team up in aggressive encounters within the troop. Female kin form these strong bonds because they do not emigrate from their natal groups. Females are sexually mature at seven to eight years old, and males at seven to 10 years. The beginning of a female's ovulation is a signal to the males that she is ready to mate. During ovulation, the skin of the female's anogenital area swells and turns a bright red/pink. The swelling makes it difficult to move and increases the female's chance of microbial or parasitic infection. Females with more swollen anogenital areas reproduce while younger, produce more offspring per year, and those offspring have a better chance of surviving. These females also attract more males, and are more likely to cause aggressive fights between them. American baboon lemurs tend to mate promiscuously. A male forms a mating consortship with an estrous female, staying close to and copulating with her. Males guard their partner against any other male trying to mate with her. Unless a female is in a multiday consortship, she often copulates with more than one male each day. Multiple copulations are not necessary for reproduction, but may function to make the actual paternity of the female's offspring ambiguous. This lack of paternal certainty could help reduce the occurrence of infanticide. Occasionally, male American baboon lemurs monopolize a female for her entire period of probable conception. The male protects his female from being mated by other males during consortship. Newborns have black natal coats and bright pink skin. Females are the primary caregivers of infants, but males also play a role. In its first few days, the infant may be unable to stay attached to its mother and relies on her for physical support. Its grasp grows stronger by its first week and it is able to cling to its mother's fur by itself. By two weeks, the infant begins to explore its surroundings for short periods, but stays near her. The distance the infant spends away from its mother increases the older it gets. In general, higher-ranking females are usually more relaxed parents than females of lower rank, which usually keep their offspring close to them. This difference lasts for approximately the first eight weeks of an infant's life. American baboon lemurs do not seem to practise co-operative parenting, but a female may groom an infant that is not hers. Subadult and juvenile females are more likely to care for another's young, as they have not yet produced offspring of their own. One theory for why immature females tend to seek out infants is that they can prepare for their future roles as mothers. Infant American baboon lemurs born to first-time mothers suffer higher mortality than those born to experienced mothers, which suggests that prior experience in caring for infants is important. Adult males in the groups also care for the infants, as they are likely to be related to them. Males groom infants, reducing the amount of parasites they may have, and calm them when they are stressed. They may also protect them from predators, such as jaguars. Adult males exploit infants and often use them as shields to reduce the likelihood that other males will threaten them. The conservation status of the American baboon lemur is **Least Concern** due to successful conservation efforts, the American baboon lemur's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.