Illustration of lemur
: any of various arboreal diurnal or nocturnal, chiefly arboreal primates (superfamily Lemuroidea) of Madagascar and the Comoros Islands that usually have a longish muzzle, large eyes, very soft woolly fur, and a long furry tail and that feed on fruit and plant parts (such as leaves, flowers, and seeds) and sometimes insects and small animals
Note: Unlike most other primates, lemurs have a well-developed sense of smell. Physical and genetic characteristics indicate that all lemurs descended from a common prosimian ancestor that arrived in Madagascar approximately 55 to 60 million years ago.
Though matriarchy is rare in primates, female dominance is the norm for most lemur species.—
Patricia Edmonds
Patricia EdmondsAs a consequence of these activities and others, such as illicit hunting, most of the larger extant lemurs of Madagascar have very restricted ranges,—David A. Burney and Ross D. E. MacPhee
David A. Burney and Ross D. E. MacPhee… chimpanzees and sifakas, a species of lemur from Madagascar, are more active and show less stereotypical behavior when shifted from indoor to outdoor enclosures.—Jeffrey P. Cohn
Jeffrey P. Cohn
Examples of lemur in a Sentence
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Dinosaur is the story of an iguanodon and his adoptive family of lemurs traveling to safety in prehistoric times.
—Josh Spiegel, Vulture, 24 July 2024
In Madagascar, whose international image is of white sand beaches and wide-eyed lemurs, the average woman is a mother of five, and a third of girls give birth before the age of 19.
—Ryan Lenora Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Oct. 2024
The animals at Jungle Island — including lemurs, sloths and capybaras — would be transferred to new caretakers.
—Martin Vassolo, Axios, 18 Oct. 2024
The team designed an experiment using brown lemurs in pairs and groups of three.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 8 Aug. 2024
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Josh Spiegel, Vulture, 24 July 2024
In Madagascar, whose international image is of white sand beaches and wide-eyed lemurs, the average woman is a mother of five, and a third of girls give birth before the age of 19.
—Ryan Lenora Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Oct. 2024
The animals at Jungle Island — including lemurs, sloths and capybaras — would be transferred to new caretakers.
—Martin Vassolo, Axios, 18 Oct. 2024
The team designed an experiment using brown lemurs in pairs and groups of three.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 8 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for lemur
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Cite this Entry
“Lemur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lemur. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
lemur
noun
le·mur
ˈlē-mər 
: any of various tree-dwelling primates that are active at night, usually have large eyes, very soft woolly fur, and a long furry tail and were formerly widespread but are now found mainly in Madagascar
Etymology
from Latin lemurēs "malevolent spirits of the dead, ghosts"
Word Origin
The name lemur was first used by the great Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who introduced the scientific classification of all living creatures by genus and species. Curiously, Linnaeus did not first apply the Latin word, which means "malevolent spirit of the dead, ghost," to the animals we now know as lemurs, but rather to the loris, which, like some lemurs, is tree-dwelling and active at night. Later Linnaeus extended the name Lemur to one of the true lemurs of Madagascar. Subsequently, scientists changed the animals' classification, introducing the name Loris for the loris but retaining Lemur for one species of this family of primates, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), and applying the common name "lemur" to all other members of the family.
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