biology

Southern woolly lemur

Southern woolly lemur is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Southern woolly lemur rather than just read about it. In short: The southern woolly lemur (Avahi meridionalis), or southern avahi, has been recently recognized as a separate species of woolly lemur in 2006 by Zaramody et al. It is a nocturnal and pair-living species.

Key takeaways

Southern woolly lemur belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Southern woolly lemur to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Southern woolly lemur from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The southern woolly lemur (Avahi meridionalis), or southern avahi, has been recently recognized as a separate species of woolly lemur in 2006 by Zaramody et al. It is a nocturnal and pair-living species. Groups can range from 2 (the parental pair only) to 5 individuals (including the offspring of subsequent years). A study in Sainte Luce forest revealed home range varied from 2.2 to 3.5 ha and that males can have larger home range and cover longer daily distances than females (which can spend more time feeding), in agreement with the territory defence and mate guarding hypotheses.

Distribution The species is restricted to the reserve of Andohahela, Sainte Luce and Ambatotsirongorongo. Further studies are required to determine the exact distribution range and especially the limits with its sister species Peyrieras' woolly lemur (A. peyrierasi). In southeastern littoral forests, sympatric lemur species of Avahi meridionalis are the brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus), the greater dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus major), the fat-tailed dwarf lemur Cheirogaleus medius and the collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris) in Sainte Luce Forest, and the southern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis) in Mandena Forest.

Description Dorsal fur is grey-brown toning down to light grey distally, while ventrum is grey. The tail is red-brown and darkens distally. The southern woolly lemur has a mean weight of 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) for females and 1.1 kg (2.4 lb) for males, with a mean head-body length of 27 cm (11 in) and 25 cm (9.8 in) for females and males, respectively.

Diet Avahi meridionalis eats leaves (and buds) and, much more rarely, flowers and appears not to base food choice on abundance. Avahi meridionalis can eat adult leaves with higher content of easily soluble protein (than non-food leaves) and switch, as soon as possible, on young leaves, richer in crude protein, and poorer in acid detergent fiber and sugar. In Sainte Luce, A. meridionalis also ate leaves with condensed tannins, alkaloids, and intermediate concentrations of polyphenolics. Contrary to previous studies that considered Avahi spp. a specialist, A. meridionalis acted as leaf eating generalists with moderate selectivity, based on nutritional quality and tolerance of a wide array of plant secondary metabolites.

Conservation The southern woolly lemur lives primarily in fragments of south-eastern rain littoral forest of Madagascar (Mandena and Sainte Luce). Degradation level, more than fragment size, seems to affect density and birth rates of the populations of this species.

References

External links Image of female and young Primate Info Net Avahi Factsheets Avahi cleesei report

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Southern woolly lemur

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Southern woolly lemur claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Southern woolly lemur before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Southern woolly lemur ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Southern woolly lemur

In research: Southern woolly lemur appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Southern woolly lemur in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Southern woolly lemur is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arboreal mammals, Fauna listed on CITES Appendix I, IUCN Red List endangered species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Southern woolly lemur outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Southern woolly lemur in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Southern woolly lemur means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Southern woolly lemur out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Southern woolly lemur in simple terms?

Why does Southern woolly lemur matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Southern woolly lemur?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Southern woolly lemur.