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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/22/PKG1HCP88C1.DTL&type=printable

YA GOTTA LOVE LEMURS 
- Delfin Vigil
Sunday, May 22, 2005 

Lemurs are the "It" animal of 2005. 

Our chimpanzee cousins, baboon brothers and your monkey's uncles 
traditionally top
popularity lists among amateur primatologists. But recent studies have 
substantiated that
the lesser-known species, the lemur, is in fact the world's 24-hour party 
primate. 

"In terms of popularity with visitors, lemurs are in the top 10," says Nancy 
Chan, public
relations director for the San Francisco Zoo, counting the personable 
primates among your
standard lions, gorillas and bears. "Meerkats rank around the same as lemurs 
-- they're
both really active and engaging animals. 

"(Lemurs) are a relatively little-known animal that's only recently gotten a 
lot of
fanfare. When our new Family Lemur Forest exhibit opened in 2002, it provided 
an
opportunity to see the five different species of lemurs at eye level." 

The lemurs became zooperstars. 

Exhibit A: Lemurs steal the show in "Madagascar," the latest animated animal 
epic from
DreamWorks, which opens Friday. Escapees from New York's Central Park Zoo, a 
lion, a
zebra, a giraffe and a hippo -- voiced by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David 
Schwimmer and
Jada Pinkett Smith -- are technically the stars of the movie. But it isn't 
until they
"move it, move it" with Madagascar lemur King Julien (voiced by Sacha "Ali G" 
Baron
Cohen) that the party truly begins. 

Exhibit B: When the folks at the Oakland Zoo began planning the Valley 
Children's Zoo
more than 10 years ago, they were practically dreaming about ring-tailed 
lemurs well
before raising the $8 million needed to build the 3- acre attraction 
premiering next
month. 

Exhibit C: Over the past decade, the Safari West animal refuge in Santa Rosa 
has bred
some of the rarest animals in captivity, including cape buffalo, zebras and 
cheetahs. But
these days, tour guides can barely get their groups past the entrance, where 
triplet
ring-tailed lemur babies, who were born earlier this month, can be found. 

Yes, it's the Year of the Lemur. 

San Francisco Zoo 

"I guess you could say it's been like one big party for lemurs over the past 
million
years," says David Bocian, an assistant curator at the San Francisco Zoo, 
stepping over a
ring-tailed lemur sunbathing on its back. "You see, life on the isolated 
island of
Madagascar is a lot more comfortable for lemurs compared to animals on 
mainland Africa,
where, normally, this guy here would be lunch." 

With the uttering of that magic word, the ring-tailed lemur opens its big, 
owlish eyes
and lifts its head toward Bocian, who, alas, has no grub. 

The lemur flashes a "how rude" look at Bocian, closes its eyes and returns to 
stretching
its limbs in the sun. Two children watching from the balcony 15 feet above 
roar with
laughter and declare the "raccoon monkey" their favorite animal at the zoo. 

It's all in a lazy day's work for the lemur and his 17 prosimian pals who 
share the
country's largest lemur exhibit. 

They can expect more of the same reaction from kids once "Madagascar" hits 
the big screen
Friday. The movie's lemurs, voiced by Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy 
Richter (see
sidebar on Page 27), steal the show right out from under the top-line beasts. 
Animators
from PDI/DreamWorks in Redwood City spent days studying the San Francisco 
lemurs for the
film. 

"They're very endearing animals, and people relate to their human antics -- 
like when
they sunbathe in yoga positions or when they groom each other," Bocian says 
as an adult
red-ruffedlemur crawls up his leg looking for fruit that isn't there. "And, 
well ... I'm
almost hesitant to say this, but ... they're not that smart. Or let's put it 
this way:
They're as smart as they need to be." 

Each morning when either Bocian or fellow lemur keeper Athena Chan releases 
the zoo's 18
lemurs into their half acre of cypress and eucalyptus trees, climbing 
structures, bridges
and grass, the animals act like a group of hungover teenagers who've 
forgotten what
happened at the party last night. 

"It's the same reaction every morning," Bocian says. "They're like, 'Wow, 
what's out
here?' " 

And on the rare sad days when a lemur dies at the zoo, it might take a while 
for the
death to register with the other lemurs. 

"When one of our black lemurs died," Bocian says, "the other was wandering 
around for
days going, 'Hey, wait a minute, where's what's-her- name?' Their learning 
curve is
different than, say, the lion-tailed macaques next door.". 

Primate Center 

Besides the fossa, a sort of weasel-looking fox, lemurs enjoyed many millions 
of years
with few predators. That is, until another weasel-like fox, known as man, 
showed up on
Madagascar about 2,000 years ago. Since then, about 92 percent of 
Madagascar's forest has
been farmed for rice and vanilla. The subsequent destruction of the lemur 
habitat has
resulted in 14 species of lemurs becoming extinct, with only 22 known 
remaining -- many
of them endangered -- according to researchers at the Duke University Primate 
Center in
North Carolina (http://primatecen ter.duke.edu). 

Fortunately, things are looking up for lemurs, according to Heather Thomas, 
education
coordinator at the Primate Center, which houses the largest captive prosimian 
collection
in the world. She believes some of that heightened awareness has to do with 
the PBS kids'
show "Zooboomafu" and John Cleese's lemur co-stars in the 1997 movie "Fierce 
Creatures." 

"That more people are beginning to realize that they actually exist," Thomas 
says,
"whether it be from a cartoon or a movie, is a big help in their survival.". 

Safari West 

"Before 'The Lion King' came out, warthogs were just pigs," says John 
Roberts, operations
manager at Safari West, a 400-acre home to dozens of species of African 
mammals, birds
and reptiles in the back country of Santa Rosa. "Nowadays, ask any kid what a 
warthog
does, and they'll tell you that it can sing and it can dance. The same goes 
for lemurs
now." 

Lemurs have two things going for them that most other primates don't, Roberts 
says. 

"They don't throw wet fecal matter at you, like a lot of other primates do. 
That's an
absolute high point with me -- especially considering how much fruit they 
eat," he says.
"Oh, and they're not big on biting your fingers off, which is kind of nice, 
too." 

Roberts says most of mankind can relate more to lemurs than to a chimpanzee 
-- a primate
whose DNA scientists say is 98 percent identical to humans. 

"I feel a strong connection with lemurs when I watch the males and females 
interact on a
day-to-day basis," he says. "The females are so domineering. They'll yell and 
scream and
howl at the males all day long, but the males know better than to yell back 
or push their
luck. It's the same in human life. We men think we're in charge. But we're 
really not." 

When a female lemur really needs to assert herself, she might use one of her 
most
important personal assets -- her anal stink glands. 

"Stink fighting is incredible," says Elizabeth Abram, a lead keeper at the 
Oakland Zoo
who will be looking after the seven ring-tailed lemurs arriving June 25. "The 
kids are
going to absolutely love watching that." 

When not throwing stink bombs at one another, or marking their territory by 
rubbing their
butts up against trees, the lemurs at the Oakland Zoo will also provide a 
chorus of
grunts, groans, screeches and howls that the kids are sure to get a kick out 
of. 

Lemurs make the noises in the wild to locate one another. But more often in 
captivity the
sounds come across as a heated argument. Fortunately, the animals always end 
the day with
some hard-core partying. 

They express this through grooming, according to Thomas from the Duke Primate 
Center. 

"It's basically the equivalent of humans hugging, shaking hands or patting 
each other on
the back at a party. It's like saying, 'Wow, you look great. I want to be 
your friend.
I'm sorry I did that to you earlier. Can you protect me now?' " 



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WHERE TO SEE LEMURS
SAN FRANCISCO ZOO: Lipman Family Lemur Forest, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. $5- $11. 
1Zoo Road,
San Francisco. (415) 753-7080. www.sfzoo.org. 

OAKLAND ZOO: Lemur exhibit opens June 25. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. $4-$9. 
9777Golf Links
Road, Oakland. (510) 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org. 

SAFARI WEST: Tours 9 a.m., 1 and 4 p.m. daily (winter 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) at 
3115Porter
Creek Road, Santa Rosa. $28-$60. (800) 616-2695, www.safariwest.com. 

E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil AT sfchronicle.com.