The black-and-white ruffed lemur is undeniably enchanting and in the wild, they are found in Madagascar and nowhere else on earth. Weighing in at around 4 kilograms this one of the largest living lemur species on the planet. As with many primates, their name draws inspiration from their appearance, and the black-and-white ruffed lemur is no exception. They have black and white fur with a distinctive white gruff around their necks. And if this species isn’t visually striking enough, it also has wide, round, and bright yellow eyes.

Many African tribes are superstitious about the little Bushbabies or Galagos of Africa - its laughing, chattering sounds are attributed to a mysterious giant snake with a feathered head, arrayed in rainbow colours, which kills evil intruders by pecking a neat hole in their head!

 Here are10 interesting facts about this little primate:

Primates are remarkable. We’re all familiar with chimpanzees, monkeys, and ring-tailed lemurs, but have you heard of tarsiers, with their big eyes? Or Cleese’s woolly lemur, named after John Cleese? Or the fabulous red-shanked douc? What about the scary-looking red-headed bald uakari? Or did you know that primates can be as small as mice?

The ringtail lemur is one of roughly 100 species of lemur - the endangered primitive primate whose native home is the island of Madagascar.

Ringtails are highly social, living in troupes of up to 30 individuals. To keep warm and to reaffirm social bonds, groups will huddle together to form a ‘lemur ball’. Females are dominant and they are the same size as the submissive males. The hormones regulating increased female aggression also lead to enlarged genitals. Girl power. Lemurs got it.

Lathering up with orange goo from millipede guts might relieve infections and expel parasites in lemurs

A few years ago, a group of researchers stumbled upon a female lemur engaging in a bizarre ritual. In her left hand was a millipede, freshly plucked from the forest floor. As the scientists watched, the lemur munched briefly on the millipede’s body, gnawing greedily until it oozed orange—and proceeded to rub the saliva-slicked drippings vigorously over her genitals, anus and tail. After a well-earned break, she concluded the ordeal by gulping down the millipede’s spent body—but this encore act seemed to play second fiddle to her slathering shenanigans.

Watching spider monkeys play is a delight. A youngster will watch an adult’s tail, suddenly bite it and run away. In return, adults sometimes chastise the young with a slap. On occasion, all play a kind of tag in which they chase an individual until it is caught, the runs off after the others in hot pursuit until it manages a grab or a playful bite. And so it will go on.

 The best of friends. Hung Chung Chih/Shutterstock

For us humans, getting involved in an aggressive conflict can be costly, not only because of the risk of injury and stress but also because it can damage precious social relationships between friends – and the same goes for monkeys and apes.

Just like humans, they also form selective long-term bonds. And in the primate world, aggression is especially harmful to these relationships because of tolerance reach breakpoint and so the rate of friendly interactions.