Indri (Indri indri) - One of the loudest voices, mute forever soon?
Have you ever seen an Indri? Probably not - at least you should have been to Madagascar. No zoo in the world is able to keep this largest prosimian. But even on Madagascar, where they are endemic, it's not very likely to observe indris. Except a narrow strip at the eastern coast most of their natural habitat, the rainforest, is destroyed. Indris are amongst the most endangered species.
Even if you luckily should meet Indris it's more likely to hear their voices instead of seeing them up in the trees. Their voices are said to be amongst the loudest within the animal kingdom. Indris live in family groups and they use their voices to mark their family range.
They give birth to just one young at a time. The young Indri stays in the family for a long time, even if there are younger siblings. Indris are very similar to gibbons concerning these behaviours. Other characteristics of Indris are their large ears, the long hands and the very short tail whereas most other prosimians have long tails. They belong to the few prosimian species which are active during the day; most of the other prosimians are nocturnal animals.
Why is the indri that endangered? Most of the Indri's natural habitat is destroyed by now and the Indri isn't able to adapt to other habitats than the rainforest. The destruction was caused by the growing number of human inhabitants and their need for soil to plant rice which is the common food on the island. Madagascar is a poor country and the methods of planting rice are not very efficient. Conservation societies worked out a masterplan together with the government of Madagascar to use the soil more efficiently, hoping that no more rainforest areas are destroyed in the future.
The Indri plays a very important role in the myths of the people of Madagascar. In former times it was seen as a holy animal. People believed that deceaseds were reincarnated in Indris. Another myth, written down by the zoologist David Attenborough, tells of a woman who gave birth to many children. When they'd grown up, some began cultivating the soil and planting rice. Others still lived by eating leaves and roots of wild plants. After a while members of the first group quarreled and fought each other. These were the ancestors of humans. This scared the members of the other group, who were hiding high up in the trees to live in peace. These were the first Indris.
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This article was originally published at <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de" target="_top">magazine.naturspot.de</a>. <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de/text/indri.html" target="_top">Link to the original article</a>
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