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Propithecus coquereli
Coquerel's sifaka is a vertical clinger and leaper with long, powerful hind legs and an upright posture. It has a head-body length of 42–50 cm and a tail length of 50–60 cm. The total mature length (including tail) is approximately 93 to 110 cm. Adult body mass is typically around 4 kg. The dorsal pelage and tail are white, with maroon patches on the chest and portions of the limbs. The coat is generally dense. Its face is bare and black except for a distinctive patch of white fur along the bridge of the nose. Its naked ears are also black, and its eyes are yellow or orange.[3][4] The bottom of the lemurs hands and feet are black, while the thighs, arms, and chest are a chocolate brown. Also, just like all lemurs, Coquerel’s Sifaka’s have a toothcomb. They use this for grooming and sometimes scraping fruit off a pit.” (Wiki)
This species occurs only at altitudes of less than 300 ft in the dry deciduous forests of northwestern Madagascar, including coastal forests.[6] It primarily occurs to the north and east of the Betsiboka River, and the southerly portion of the range extends to Ambato-Boéni.[7] They are common in these two areas. Groups of this species have a home range area amounting to 4-9 hectares.[8] Overall densities in the wild are observed in the range of 60 individuals per km² (Wiki)
Thank you very much for your detailed story nrvero! It's even nicer to get it after all this time :-) I understand why you didn't wan to leave. This is one of the lemurs I would most love to see in the wild.
Yes Daniele, sorry for the (very) late answer, I've just started tu use my PN account again. I couldn't tell from memory the exact place in Madagascar where I spotted them again but I guess I could do some research. I remember arriving late at night after a long drive from Tana and wondering if I'd spot any lemurs around (the lodge was quite isolated and the nearby forest very deep so lemurs wouldn't be used to human presence). About 5am my boyfriend and I heard very loud vocalisation from what seemed to be several dozens of lemurs far away in the forest and we dressed up and ran with excitement to see them. It was one of the most exciting moment in my life, the songs were MAGICAL. But they were too deep in the forest and it was toi dark to go on our own. A few hours later we asked a local guide to take us there and we saw different kind of lemurs we had already seen in other parts of Mada tand then after a long walk we spotted those adorable teddy-bearish fellas that seemed to wear cute hooded pyjamas. They were very quiet and curious of us (although from a very safe distance) and quite big. I took many pictures but they were so high up in the trees that most of them are blurry (I use a compact camera that fits in my pocket) from zooming too much. I seem to remember that I filmed them with my video camera too (better zoom). I also remember that did not want to leave them EVER. :-)
Great spotting nrvero! This is an endangered animal. Can you tell us more about your encounter?
Spotted on Oct 9, 2008
Submitted on Dec 9, 2011
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