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Sifaka — printable fact sheet
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Sifaka
Propithecus verreauxi
Sifakas (genus Propithecus) are large Madagascan lemurs built entirely around vertical clinging and leaping. Their hindlimbs are far longer and more powerfully muscled than the arms, and a sifaka can launch itself between trunks in leaps of up to 9 or 10 metres, rotating in mid-…
Did you know?
- The word 'sifaka' comes from the animal's distinctive 'shi-fak' alarm call.
- A sifaka can leap around 10 metres between trunks and land facing forward, having rotated in mid-flight. Their legs are so specialised that they cannot run on all fours, and the sideways bipedal hop is a compromise, not a display. Sifakas are named onomatopoeically after the alarm call of Verreaux's sifaka. Verreaux's sifakas leap safely between the trunks of Madagascar's octopus trees, whose spines are long enough to impale a hand, apparently landing between them by fine visual control.
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