Didn't know these were held at Sorocaba. I thought the only place in the country keeping them was the SP aquarium. Do you know where they came from? Have they bred yet?
@David Matos Mendes Sorry about the late reply but I didn't see your comment before David.
There are quite a few zoos within Brazil keeping them and I'm sure that this is going to be a species kept by many more across the country because it is a popular animal with the visiting public.
So with regards to where these particular lemurs came from it is an interesting one because they came in the early 2010's from a zoo in Greece.
They are three females and one male, one of the females was born at the zoo but as far as I am aware this has been the only birth.
In the past the enclosure where they are kept was a very strange set-up because the lemurs shared this enclosure with a female woolly monkey until the latter died.
There were no issues or agonistic behaviour between the lemurs and the monkey and they seemed to get on alright but I always found it sad that the monkey was not kept with a companion of its own species.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
Oh, quite an interesting story! This is probably the first case of animal exchange between Brazil and Greece that I'm aware. Also, it's great that they have bred once.
It's indeed curious that there was a wooly monkey living with them... Was it the zoo's only individual of the species?
What other zoos in the country keep this species of lemur? I'm curious now. I honestly thought they were only kept in SP aquarium (and Sorocaba, after seen your picture). I'm guessing Natal aquarium maybe?
@David Matos Mendes I'm sure there have been other exchanges between the two countries, Sorocaba zoo has quite a few contacts with European zoos and some countries like UK, France, Switzerland and Germany come to mind.
Yes, unfortunately it was the only individual kept by the zoo, I always thought it was a shame that it wasn't kept with others of its species and obviously the lemur mix wasn't the best set-up.
There are a few:
Sao Paulo aquarium - Ring tailed lemur (non breeding group kept at the aquarium).
Zoo Itatiba - Black and white ruffed lemurs (small breeding group kept here), ring tailed lemurs (small breeding group kept here).
Brasilia zoo - Ring tailed lemur (unknown amount kept here).
I imagine that more zoos will get into keeping this species and the ruffed lemur in the future too.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
Oh yes, I knew about the black and white ruffed lemurs at Itatiba. Are you sure they also keep ring-tailed? Also, I didn't see any species of lemur in Brasília when I visited it in october 2019, nor saw any mentions to them in the institution's social media.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
Oh yes, thanks! I think I have superficially read this thread a few times. Gonna take a better look at it.
Anyway, i'm quite sure Brasília does not keep any species of lemur, but I could check it out better. Been planing to visit the institution again soon.
@David Matos Mendes I tend to think with coming moves to privatize many of the zoos here that ring tailed lemurs will probably end up in a lot of these as they are both popular animals, exotic and easy to maintain.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
Yeah, I also think so. I got surprised Bioparque do Rio didn't acquire some of them. There were early talks about maintaining them in the big central island of the "Aventura Selvagem" set, but at the end they didn't show up.
