eastern woolly lemur

{{Short description|Species of lemur}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Eastern woolly lemur

| taxon = Avahi laniger

| authority = (Gmelin, 1788){{MSW3 Groves|pages=119|id=12100077}}

| status = VU

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Patel, E. |date=2020 |title=Avahi laniger |volume=2020 |page=e.T2434A115559557 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T2434A115559557.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}

| status2 = CITES_A1

| status2_system = CITES

| status2_ref = {{cite web | url = http://checklist.cites.org/#/en/search/scientific_name=Avahi | title = Checklist of CITES Species | website = CITES | publisher = UNEP-WCMC | accessdate = 18 March 2015}}

| image = Avahi_laniger_Grandidier.jpg

| synonyms = {{plainlist|

• avahi van der Hoeven, 1844
• lanatus Wagner, 1840
• longicaudatus E. Geoffroy, 1796
• orientalis von Lorenz-Liburnau, 1898}}

| range_map = Avahi laniger range map.svg

| range_map_caption = Distribution of A. laniger

}}

The eastern woolly lemur (Avahi laniger), also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to eastern Madagascar, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern coast of the island or they can also inhabit the northern tip of the island with other species.{{cite journal |last1=Andriantompohavana |first1=R. |last2=Randriamanana |first2=J. C. |last3=Sommer |first3=J. A. |last4=Brenneman |first4=R. A. |last5=Louis |first5=E. E. |title=Characterization of 22 microsatellite loci developed from the genome of the Woolly Lemur (Avahi laniger) |journal=Molecular Ecology Notes |date=September 2004 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=400–403 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-8286.2004.00665.x }} The woolly lemur name refers to their thick, tightly curled hair, whereas their generic name avahi refers to their high-pitched defensive call. The eastern woolly lemur almost has an owl-look with its large eyes, small rounded head, and ears that are mostly hidden.{{cite web |title=Eastern woolly lemur (Avahi laniger) |website=Wildscreen Arkive |url=http://www.arkive.org/eastern-woolly-lemur/avahi-laniger/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605120001/http://www.arkive.org/eastern-woolly-lemur/avahi-laniger/ |date=2017-06-05 |archive-date=2017-06-05 }} This nocturnal animal weighs {{cvt|1.0|–|1.3|kg}} and reaches a length of {{cvt|27|–|29|cm}} with a tail of {{cvt|33|–|37|cm}}. Its diet consists mainly of leaves and buds with fruits, flowers, and bark.

Eastern woolly lemurs live in monogamous pairs together with their offspring. The eastern woolly lemur's breeding season ranges from March to May with the baby lemurs being born around August to September.{{cite web |last1=Ehler |first1=Pam |title=Avahi Laniger (avahi) |website=Animal Diversity Web |year=2002 |access-date=2 May 2017 |url=http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Avahi_laniger/}}

Other lemur species that live in the same rainforests as eastern woolly lemur are the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) and the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer). In southeastern rainforests, sympatric lemur species of A. meridionalis are the brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus), the greater dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus major), the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius) and the collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris) in Sainte Luce Forest, and the southern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis) in Mandena Forest.

According to one study, a male lemur rarely interacts with more than one other individual when sleeping, traveling or grooming. At night, he would spend about 40% of the time with his partner either grooming or resting.{{cite journal |last1=Harcourt |first1=Caroline |title=Diet and behaviour of a nocturnal lemur, Avahi laniger, in the wild |journal=Journal of Zoology |date=April 1991 |volume=223 |issue=4 |pages=667–674 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04395.x }} Eastern woolly lemurs have preferences on where they sleep. They prefer to sleep on branches or in dense vegetation at an average height of 3 m.{{Cite journal |last=Junge |first=Randall E. |last2=Williams |first2=Cathy V. |last3=Rakotondrainibe |first3=Hajanirina |last4=Mahefarisoa |first4=Karine L. |last5=Rajaonarivelo |first5=Tsiky |last6=Faulkner |first6=Charles |last7=Mass |first7=Vanessa |date=2017 |title=BASELINE HEALTH AND NUTRITION EVALUATION OF TWO SYMPATRIC NOCTURNAL LEMUR SPECIES ( AVAHI LANIGER AND LEPILEMUR MUSTELINUS ) RESIDING NEAR AN ACTIVE MINE SITE AT AMBATOVY, MADAGASCAR |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.1638/2016-0261.1 |journal=Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine |language=en |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=794–803 |doi=10.1638/2016-0261.1 |issn=1042-7260}}

{{As of|2020}}, the eastern woolly lemur continues to exist; however, based on a 2000 study, the entire lemur population might be endangered if the forests continues to "disappear at a disastrous rate".{{Cite journal|last1=Thalmann|first1=Urs|last2=Geissmann|first2=Thomas|date=December 2000|title=Distribution and geographic variation in the western woolly lemur (Avahi occidentalis) with description of a new species (A. unicolor)|url=https://rdcu.be/b8Bxs|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=16 October 2020|journal=International Journal of Primatology|volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=915–941 |doi=10.1023/A:1005507028567|s2cid=38525400 }} This could be due to many reasons, for example deforestation and forest degradation.