Ring-tailed Lemur - Cultural References

Cultural References

The ring-tailed lemur is known locally in Malagasy as maky (pronounced, and spelled maki in French) or hira (pronounced or colloquially ). Being the most widely recognized endemic primate on the island, it has been selected as the symbol for Madagascar National Parks (formerly known as ANGAP). The Maki brand, which started by selling t-shirts in Madagascar and now sells clothing across the Indian Ocean islands, is named after the this lemur due to its popularity, despite the fact that the company's logo portrays the face of a sifaka and its name uses the French spelling.

The first mention of the ring-tailed lemur in Western literature came in 1625 when English traveler and writer Samuel Purchas described them as being comparable in size to a monkey and having a fox-like long tail with black and white rings.

It has been popularized in Western culture by the Animal Planet television series Lemur Kingdom (United States) and Lemur Street (United Kingdom), as well as by the character King Julien in the animated Madagascar film series and spin-off TV series. Lemur Street depicts real events in the lives of wild ring-tailed lemurs, whereas the Madagascar films and spin-off series depict anthropomorphic representations, such as lemurs talking, singing, and dancing. The ring-tailed lemur was also the focus of the 1996 Nature documentary A Lemur's Tale, which was filmed at the Berenty Reserve and followed a troop of lemurs. The troop included a special infant named Sapphire, who was nearly albino, with white fur, bright blue eyes, and the characteristic ringed tail.

This species also played a role in the 1997 comedy film Fierce Creatures, starring John Cleese, who has a passion for lemurs. Cleese later hosted the 1998 BBC documentary In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese, which tracked the progress of a reintroduction of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs back into the Betampona Reserve in Madagascar. The project had been partly funded by Cleese's donation of the proceeds from the London premier of Fierce Creatures.