28 



THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



Unlike the monkey, the lemur works by night and sleeps during 

 the day. He is not dainty in his food, eating almost anything he 



comes across, 

 from fruit, vege- 

 tables, and 

 leaves, to birds, 

 and even snakes. 

 One of the 

 prettiest mem- 

 bers of the lemur 

 tribe is the little 

 creature with 

 the ringed tail 

 that is often to 

 be seen in zoo- 

 logical gardens. 

 It is about the 

 size of an ordi- 

 nary tabby cat, 

 and with its long 

 fluffy tail, gray 

 furry body, and 

 its peculiar habit 

 of arching the 

 back, it has so 

 close a resem- 

 blance to pussy 

 that it is fre- 

 quently called 

 the cat-like lemur. Most members of the lemur group rarely leave 

 the trees, but the ring-tailed variety is quite at home in rocky 

 country. 



Another interesting family is that of the mouse lemurs, tiny 

 creatures smaller in size than the rat, which have the curious habit 

 of sleeping, that is, hibernating, during the hottest and driest 

 season of the year. There are many animals, as we shall presently 

 see, in the colder parts of the earth, which sleep during the winter, 



Ring-tailed Lemur 



