Meet the different lemur. The sifaka look is unmistakable. Its vertical leaps in the trees and “dances” between trees are legendary. And its common name sounds like its alarm call when it spies a predator: shee-fak!

The Basics

Scientific name	Propithecus verreauxi coquereli
Diet:	Leaves, buds, tree bark
Size:	16–19 inches (head and body); 20–24 inches (tail); 7–9 pounds.
Range:	Northwestern Madagascar
Habitat:	Dry forest
Group living:	3 to 10 individuals, adults and young. Females dominant.
Reproduction:	Single offspring. Baby rides on mother until about 4 months old.
Conservation status:	Endangered
Threats:	Loss and isolation of forest habitat. Population could decline by 20 percent in the next few decades.

Mastering Their Domain

• Powerful thunder thighs allow sifakas to make leaps of more than 30 feet between the sparsely distributed trees of the dry forest.
  
• They leap and cling to tree limbs vertically – that is, with their bodies in an upright, rather than horizontal, position.
  
• When it’s too far to leap to the next tree, sifakas hop and skip across the ground in a dance that is considered one of the world’s great wildlife displays.
  
• To survive in their harsh dry forest homes, Coquerel’s sifakas [there are a bunch of different sifakas, some live in moist forests] seek protein-rich leaves and can even digest plants like poison ivy that are toxic to other animals.
• Males use a scent gland on their throat to rub their trademark smell on vertical branches and mark their group’s territory.
  

How A Sifaka Says “Back Off”

Sifakas tell a potential predator on the ground to get lost through an elaborate series of sounds and actions. Their “shee-fak” hiss is accompanied by a wide-open stare, a groan with closed mouth, and a loud click as the sifaka opens its mouth. Then it’s a few sharp backward flings of the head, and the sound and the fury start up again until the threat is passed.

Fascinating but Untrue: Malagasy legend has it that when a group of staring, vocalizing sifakas move as one toward a human, the lemurs’ final move is to leap upon and eat the person.