Lemur Infants of Various Species

Lemurs consist of members of the suborder Strepsirrhini, excluding their relatives like the loris, potto, and tarsier. Neither monkeys or apes, they belong to a group of primitive primates known as prosimians. They are disintinguished by their snouts and large, facing-eyes. The ancestors of lemurs had diverged about 50 million years ago and were present in Europe, North America, and Africa. However, they soon faced competition from monkeys, leaving only a few lemur relatives in Africa. Isolation from monkeys and apes on the mainland allowed lemurs to flourish in Madagascar and the Comoros Islands. Still, the arrival of humans, more advanced primates,has threatened lemurs. Today, many of the 105 species of lemurs are endangered.