lemur

noun

le·​mur ˈlē-mər 

: 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

As 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

… 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

Illustration of lemur

Examples of lemur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The successful global operation saw hundreds of tortoises and lemurs returned to Madagascar and arrests made for trafficking the wildlife. —Simon Perry, People.com, 13 Dec. 2024

From great soaring condors to leaping lemurs, and from gliding squirrels to beautifully buzzing orchid bees —the series reveals unexpected and fascinating stories of animals who defy gravity and master the air around them in extraordinary ways. —Denise Petski, Deadline, 1 Dec. 2024

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

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Lemur, genus name (now applied only to the ring-tailed lemur, Lemur catta), going back to Latin lemurēs, plural, "malevolent spirits of the dead" — more at lemures

Note: The genus name Lemur was used by linnaeus in Systema naturae, tenth edition, vol. 1 (Stockholm, 1758), pp. 29-30. He applied the name to three animals, the slender loris of Sri Lanka (now Loris tardigradus), the ring-tailed lemur (still Lemur catta), and the colugo or flying lemur (now Cynocephalus volans). In an earlier work, a description of specimens in the museum of the Swedish king Adolf Frederick (Museum …Adolphi Friderici regis, Stockholm, 1754), Linnaeus introduced Lemur exclusively as a name for the slender loris, the basic anatomy of which he describes (pp. 3-4). He explains the name as follows: "I have called these lemures because they walk around primarily at night, resembling to a degree humans, and wander with a slow step" ("Lemures dixi hos, quod noctu imprimis obambulant, hominibus quodammodo similes, & lento passu vagant"). The work is written in both Latin and Swedish in parallel columns, and in the corresponding Swedish text the animal is named pysling (now pyssling) "little person, dwarf, troll"—not an accurate equivalent of Latin lemur, and perhaps suggesting that Linnaeus did not completely understand the meaning of the word.

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing lemur

• flying lemur
• ring-tailed lemur

Kids 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.