Small-toothed Sportive Lemur - Physical Description

Physical Description

Compared to other sportive lemurs, the small-toothed sportive lemur is relatively large, weighing between 0.9 and 1.2 kg (2.0 and 2.6 lb) and measuring 55 to 64 cm (22 to 25 in) from head to tail. Its head-body length is 27 to 32 cm (11 to 13 in), and its tail measures between 25 and 29 cm (9.8 and 11 in). The species is nearly identical in coloration to the weasel sportive lemur and it is almost impossible to separate the two in the field, except on the basis of geography. The small-toothed sportive lemur has a dark stripe in the center of its forehead that lightens as it runs down the back. Its pelage (fur) is thick and reddish-brown, while its underside and neck are pale gray-brown, and sometimes have a yellowish or yellowish-gray hue. The shoulders and forelimbs have a bright chestnut color. The color darkens to russet between the shoulders, down to the hind-limbs and tail. The tail is darkest at the tip. Some individuals are reported to have a characteristic collar of white fur.

Like all sportive lemurs, they can easily be confused with woolly lemurs (genus Avahi), and sometimes with the much smaller dwarf lemurs (genus Cheirogaleus). Unlike the woolly lemurs, sportive lemurs have prominent ears, and they lack the white patches usually found on the thighs of woolly lemurs. All sportive lemurs have long legs compared to their arms and trunk and the face is covered with short hairs.

According to a review by Henry Ogg Forbes in 1894, the species differs from other sportive lemurs—as its name suggests—by having significantly smaller molar teeth. Forbes also claimed that compared with the weasel sportive lemur, its bony palate is longer and it has a depression at the base of the nasal (nose) region. Like other sportive lemurs, the cecum (beginning of the large intestine) is enlarged, presumably to handle its leaf-rich diet, which is more characteristic of larger primates.