Hairy-eared dwarf lemur

Appearance

There is an area of a darker grey triangle on their heads between their eyes and both of their eyes have dark narrow rings around them. Their nose and lips are a light pink color, and they exhibit an extraordinarily long tongue compared to other dwarf lemurs. The dorsal side of the lemur is a brownish grey, with a darker line of fur running along the spine.

Robin Lee Kolnicki describes Allocebus as a slightly larger Dwarf lemur. Recent studies show the species weighs anywhere between 75-98 grams and anywhere from 125–145 mm head and body length to 150–195 mm head-to-tail length.

Range and habitat

A. Trichotis is a nocturnal lemur that is endemic to Madagascar. The hairy-eared dwarf lemur was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1989 in a northeastern primary lowland rainforest. The population of these mammals is shown to be severely decreasing and largely fragmented throughout Northern and Eastern Madagascar rainforests. Most likely due to hunting, trapping, slash-and-burn agriculture as well as habitat fragmentation.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet and breeding

Observations show that the lemurs tend to build nests with a deep layer of straw or leaves and since they are exclusively nocturnal, they spend their days sleeping in the same tree hollow and cover themselves with the straw or leaves. There is not much information on their diet in the wild, but in captivity the lemurs were observed to eat various insects such as small/medium locusts, were often observed trying to catch flies outside of their cage, and consuming various fruits.

In crisis

The hairy-eared dwarf lemur is likely to be critically endangered and the population is estimated anywhere from 100–1000 individuals. In 2008, the species was ranked as "data deficient" by the IUCN Red List, but is now classified as "endangered" according to the 2020 IUCN Red List. Locals of Madagascar call A. Trichotis "tsidy ala", that translates to "the mouse lemur of the big forest." Currently, there are a few known predators of A. Trichotis. Data shows that Malagasy carnivores (Eupleridae) and owls (Strigiformes) as well as humans are a threat.

A. Trichotis has numerous threats, that most likely explains their low population size. Because the species is extremely difficult to locate due to its similarity to Microcebus rufus, distribution is recorded as being restricted and patchy with an overall low population density and the populations are rapidly declining in numbers due to rapid destruction of habitat.

CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.

Hairy-eared dwarf lemur is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Hairy-eared dwarf lemur, Wikidata item Q907863. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.