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Verreaux's Sifaka is a medium sized primate in one of the lemur families. It lives in Madagascar and can be found in a variety of habitats from rainforest to western Madagascar dry deciduous forests and dry and spiny forests. The fur is thick and silky and generally white with brown on the sides, top of the head, and on the arms. Like all Sifakas, it has a long tail that it uses as a balance when leaping from tree to tree. However, its body is so highly adapted to an arboreal existence that on the ground its only means of locomotion is hopping. In a series of unique bipiedal hops and bounds, a Verreaux's Sifaka traverves a stretch of open ground, with her infant riding on her back. Powerful hind legs also enable Sifakas to take enormous leaps from tree to tree, often landing on cactus-like plants and amazingly unhindered by the sharp spines. Sifakas do not need to drink standing water, and can endure droughts by obtaining moisture from eating vegetation or licking dew. Verreaux's Sifakas are the most widespread subspecies of Sifaka, yet they are increasingly vulnerable as the forests on which they depend are cut. These engaging lemurs are threatened by habitat destruction throughout their range. The dry deciduous forests of the west are being cleared for timber extraction, firewood and charcoal production and resulting fragments of habitat are also at risk from deliberate fires. Hunting of the species is a taboo in some areas but does still occur in others and is made easier by the relatively open habitat. Of the 4 subspecies, the Crowned Sifaka is the most endangered and population estimates vary between just 100 and 1,000 individuals. |