Island Evolution: Skipping Lemur

Verreaux's Sifaka, an indri lemur native to Madagascar, is one of the more peculiar and less widely known members of the primate order. It makes large leaps between trees, but even more amazingly, it skips along sideways on two legs while moving around on the ground.

Perhaps the inspiration for Tigger?

Island environments such as Madagascar, the Galapagos, and Oceania produce many interesting and unique species via genetic drift and natural selection as they adapt to their new environment, and slowly become incapable of breeding with their mainland counterparts. Ernst Mayr called this process "peripatric speciation".

From the Primate segment (part 1) of the BBC documentary "Cousins".

More Information:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/cousins/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verreaux%27s_Sifaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatric_speciation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Mayr

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• primate
• simian
• human
• being
• animal
• comparison
• difference
• amazing
• evolution
• bipedal
• skip
• hop
• jump
• bounce
• verreaux
• verreauxs
• sifaka
• lemur
• indri
• science
• documentary
• specialization
• bbc

[tehinfidel]

From 2:43 -- the inspiration for Tigger?

[felinarina]

Wow, these are amazing creatures!

[weBjammin625]

d'awwwww

[TLC2287]

@supajive In case you've never found out her name, she's Charlotte Uhlenbroek, a primatologist.

[fuckedupspaz123]

these are lesser lemurs right? not true lemurs?

[supajive]

man, this chick is hot. who is she? shes an angel

[eyejab]

beautifull creatures!

[Cosd52]

Haha... maybe!