This pair produced a youngster in 1972; I think this was the first ruffed lemur to be born in the UK. As has already been mentioned it was a red ruffed lemur x black & white ruffed lemur hybrid (although the two forms were considered conspecific in those days).
Just received a copy of Jersey's 1976 guidebook today and here (if the attachment works) is one of there hybrid Ruffed Lemurs (appears to be mix of B&W with some Red parentage)
As noted by Nisha, who has managed to pre-empt my post p) the 1976 Jersey guidebook actually shows one of their hybrid ruffed lemurs, which I suspect to be a first-generation hybrid, and which looks rather different from all other hybrid ruffed lemurs I have seen!
I believe I am right in saying that their original pair were first generation sibling hybrids (from COlogne?). Sometime in the late 1980s about nine went to Monkeyworld, where for a time they were in a well-wooded enclosure, and could be seen shouting high in the trees. A single member of this group is still there, in a walk-through with Ringtails.
Two further thought:
1/ It's nearly a year to the day since my last comment on this thread.
2/ Jersey currently has a pair of Red Ruffed and a pair of Black & White, on opposite sides of their Lemur Lake, where the two pairs can & do challenge each other across the water from their respective tree tops. Yet another facet that makes Durrell such a fantastic visitor experience.
I believe I am right in saying that their original pair were first generation sibling hybrids (from COlogne?). Sometime in the late 1980s about nine went to Monkeyworld, where for a time they were in a well-wooded enclosure, and could be seen shouting high in the trees. A single member of this group is still there, in a walk-through with Ringtails.
Just reading an article on Ruffed Lemur taxa in the 1977 Dodo journal - your correct on the sibling bit. They came from Basel in December 1974. The first offspring of this pair was a DNS in June 1976 and a successful female followed 12 months later. Narrowing it down from photos and descriptions provided in the article I'd be 95% certain that the individual pictured above is the original adult female
I have been in Duisburg last summer and a keeper told me they own a hybrid ruffed lemur, she also pointed me the exact animal out and I saw it (though I couldn't really take nice pics of it).
I remember them arriving at Jersey. At the time I believe zoos thought Red and B/W Ruffed Lemur were a single species so Basel/Jersey weren't aware they were actually hybrids. Or does the Dodo journal suggest that they were aware?
