Lemur macaco macaco Linnaeus, 1766
Found in north-west Madagascar from Anivorano Nord along the coast to Maromandia and on the islands of Nosy Be and Nosy Komba (Tattersall, 1982; Koenders et al, 1985; Birkel, 1987).
Numbers are unknown. On Nosy Komba, the density of this animal was estimated at less than one animal per 2 ha (Petter et al, 1977).
This subspecies has been recorded in various habitats including undisturbed forest, secondary forest, timber plantations and secondary forest mixed with crops such as coffee and cashew nut trees (Andrews, 1989). On the islands of Nosy Be and Nosy Komba, Black Lemurs were seen in groups of between four and 15 individuals, these were composed of several adults, typically more males than females, and two to three young (Petter, 1962). The groups maintained separate ranges during the day then joined together at night (Petter, 1962). The lemurs were active in the early morning and late afternoon and rested during the mid-day hours (Petter, 1962). Birkel (1987) visited a forest north of Ambanja and counted three groups of Black Lemurs. One contained five males and four females, a second contained four individuals of each sex and the third contained five males and one female. The groups foraged until well after nightfall and were active and feeding during the night (Birkel, 1987). It is suggested that this nocturnal foraging may be partially in response to persecution by the local people who chase the lemurs out of their crops (Andrews, in litt.). During a recent survey on Nosy Be and the mainland, J. Andrews (1989) counted 27 groups of Black Lemurs, the size of these groups varied from two to twelve with average group size of seven. Neither she nor Raxworthy and Rakotondraparany (1988), working in Manongarivo Special Reserve, considered that there was a bias towards males in the groups that they saw. Black Lemurs eat fruit, leaves bark and flowers (Petter, 1962, Petter and Petter, 1971; Petter et al, 1977). Females have a single young, born between September and November (Petter and Petter, 1971).
The forests, both inside and outside protected areas, are being destroyed, mostly by slash and burn agriculture. Though L. m. macaco is found in secondary forest, it is not clear whether some undisturbed forest is necessary for its survival. Black Lemurs are poached from the Lokobe Reserve on the island of Nosy Be (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989). The lemurs are frequently chased and some are killed when they raid crops.
This subspecies is found in Manongarivo Special Reserve on the mainland (Raxworthy and Rakotondraparany, 1988) and in the small Nature Reserve of Lokobe on the island of Nosy Be. They are also reported to be in Tsaratanana Nature Reserve (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989). They are a tourist attraction on the island of Nosy Komba; here the local people consider them to be sacred animals.
The Reserves in which the Black Lemur are found need better protection and conservation education programs for the local people should be set up (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989; Quansah, 1988). Lokobe could be developed as a tourist attraction and the old paths within the Reserve should be cleared to allow easy access for the tourists (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989).
An 18 month field study, comparing the ecology of Black Lemur groups in different habitats, is planned by J. Andrews of Washington University, St Louis and University College London.
The Black Lemur is one of the most sexually dimorphic of the lemurs. The males are a uniform black while the females' coat color varies from light brown to a dark chestnut brown, with the crown of the head and the face ranging from chestnut to gray or black. Both sexes possess heavily tufted ears, the males' are black and the females' are white. Eye color is yellow to reddish orange (Birkel, 1987). The Malagasy names of this species are akomba, ankomba or komba (Tattersall, 1982).