Lemurs have become incredibly popular in Western culture in recent years. The species appeared in Disney’s animated film Dinosaur featuring the characters Yar, Plio, Suri, and Zini. The DreamWorks franchise Madagascar features the lemur characters King Julien, Maurice and Mort and was seen by an estimated 100 million people in theaters and 200–300 million people on DVD worldwide.
This popular animal also led to a twenty-episode series called Lemur Street which aired here in the UK, Canada and the USA on Animal Planet. It combined the typical animal documentary with dramatic narration to tell the story of two groups of ring-tailed lemurs at Berenty Private Reserve. Lemurs of many kinds, appear in William S. Burroughs final novel Ghost of Chance that takes place in and around Madagascar.
There are around 100 existing species of Lemurs. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. They chiefly live in trees and are active at night.
Lemurs share resemblance with other primates, but evolved independently from monkeys and apes. They share many common basal primate traits, such as divergent digits on their hands and feet and have nails instead of claws. However their brain-to-body size ratio is smaller than that of anthropoid primates.
Lemurs are generally quite social and exhibit female social dominance They communicate more with scents and vocalisations, than with visual signals. They have a relatively low basal metabolic rate and, as a result, may exhibit dormancy such as hibernation or torpor.
Many lemur species have already gone extinct in the last 2000 years due to human activity. Because of these threats and their declining numbers, the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers lemurs to be the world’s most endangered mammals, noting that as of 2013 up to 90% of all lemur species confront the threat of extinction in the wild within the next 20 to 25 years.
Interestingly, lemurs have traditionally been regarded as being less intelligent than primates, with monkeys and apes often described as having more cunning, guile, and deceptiveness. Actually, many lemur species have scored lower on tests designed for monkeys while performing as well as monkeys on other tests. These comparisons may not be fair since lemurs prefer to manipulate objects with their mouths (rather than their hands) and only take interest in objects when in captivity. Recent studies show that lemurs do exhibit levels of technical intelligence on par with many other primates, although they manipulate objects less often.
Lemurs range in weight from the 30g mouse lemur to the 9kg indri lemur. The most commonly seen ring tailed lemur, usually ways around 2kg. Relatively small in stature but huge in personality, they make excellent film subjects.
The lemur’s jumping prowess has been well documented. Using their long powerful back legs, they catapult themselves into the air and land in an upright posture on a nearby tree with both hands and feet tightly gripping the trunk. They can leap up to 10m (33ft) rapidly from tree trunk to tree trunk and this activity allows for some impressive action shots.
Their black, white and grey coats are an easy colour palette to work with in terms of photography. Their bold markings provide stunning contrast to vibrant colour. For this reason, if you’re working on a fashion shoot or branding campaign you’ll get a striking image when you feature the lemur.
Whilst lemurs are incredibly cute, let’s remember they are wild animals! Whilst intelligent and thoughtful, they don’t often like to follow instruction. They have a playful yet destructive nature and can be aggressive if not handled correctly. Please keep this in mind if thinking of working with them in the studio. They are also incredibly vocal and will be loud on set, usually quite screechy. They have a different call for nearly every situation!
We supply professional animal location handlers around the world to ensure you get all the shots you require and, as overseers to ensure the wild is not disturbed, the crew will always be safe and no welfare regulations are ever breached.
It isn’t just the animals that are well trained, our team including our handlers are also highly experienced and fully qualified experts in the field.
Your handler will take full control of any animals on set and ensure the entire shoot runs properly. They will also fully manage the welfare of all the animals both on and off set; the safety and welfare of the animals is their prime concern. All of our handling is strictly force-free and only positive, reward based practices are deployed. This way you can have total confidence that by booking With The Animal Talent everything is taken care of legally, professionally and ethically.
The Performing Animals License is no longer relevant (it was scrapped in 2019) and has been replaced with the Animal Activity Licence, which we hold.
Our lemurs are covered by a £10 million Public Liability Insurance policy.
While the species is diurnal and can therefore work during the day, correct temperatures should be in place (18 to 29°C). Please note, they are social animals and shouldn’t live or really work alone; they have complex needs and require a lot of interaction, enrichment, and stimulation. Handlers of lemurs require a DWA license and therefore strict regulations are in place regarding the transportation, housing and handling of the species. Please call us to discuss filming options with our handlers.
If any species of animal listed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act are required, special measures will need to be put into place for the shoot. Precisely what is appropriate will vary species to species, but may include sectioned off areas where only trained handlers are allowed. In the event of large and dangerous carnivores, a specifically built green screen studio can also be supplied.
Lemurs have become incredibly popular in Western culture in recent years. The species appeared in Disney’s animated film Dinosaur featuring the characters Yar, Plio, Suri, and Zini. The DreamWorks franchise Madagascar features the lemur characters King Julien, Maurice and Mort and was seen by an estimated 100 million people in theaters and 200–300 million people on DVD worldwide.
This popular animal also led to a twenty-episode series called Lemur Street which aired here in the UK, Canada and the USA on Animal Planet. It combined the typical animal documentary with dramatic narration to tell the story of two groups of ring-tailed lemurs at Berenty Private Reserve. Lemurs of many kinds, appear in William S. Burroughs final novel Ghost of Chance that takes place in and around Madagascar.
There are around 100 existing species of Lemurs. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. They chiefly live in trees and are active at night.
Lemurs share resemblance with other primates, but evolved independently from monkeys and apes. They share many common basal primate traits, such as divergent digits on their hands and feet and have nails instead of claws. However their brain-to-body size ratio is smaller than that of anthropoid primates.
Lemurs are generally quite social and exhibit female social dominance They communicate more with scents and vocalisations, than with visual signals. They have a relatively low basal metabolic rate and, as a result, may exhibit dormancy such as hibernation or torpor.
Many lemur species have already gone extinct in the last 2000 years due to human activity. Because of these threats and their declining numbers, the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers lemurs to be the world’s most endangered mammals, noting that as of 2013 up to 90% of all lemur species confront the threat of extinction in the wild within the next 20 to 25 years.
Interestingly, lemurs have traditionally been regarded as being less intelligent than primates, with monkeys and apes often described as having more cunning, guile, and deceptiveness. Actually, many lemur species have scored lower on tests designed for monkeys while performing as well as monkeys on other tests. These comparisons may not be fair since lemurs prefer to manipulate objects with their mouths (rather than their hands) and only take interest in objects when in captivity. Recent studies show that lemurs do exhibit levels of technical intelligence on par with many other primates, although they manipulate objects less often.
Lemurs range in weight from the 30g mouse lemur to the 9kg indri lemur. The most commonly seen ring tailed lemur, usually ways around 2kg. Relatively small in stature but huge in personality, they make excellent film subjects.
The lemur’s jumping prowess has been well documented. Using their long powerful back legs, they catapult themselves into the air and land in an upright posture on a nearby tree with both hands and feet tightly gripping the trunk. They can leap up to 10m (33ft) rapidly from tree trunk to tree trunk and this activity allows for some impressive action shots.
Their black, white and grey coats are an easy colour palette to work with in terms of photography. Their bold markings provide stunning contrast to vibrant colour. For this reason, if you’re working on a fashion shoot or branding campaign you’ll get a striking image when you feature the lemur.
Whilst lemurs are incredibly cute, let’s remember they are wild animals! Whilst intelligent and thoughtful, they don’t often like to follow instruction. They have a playful yet destructive nature and can be aggressive if not handled correctly. Please keep this in mind if thinking of working with them in the studio. They are also incredibly vocal and will be loud on set, usually quite screechy. They have a different call for nearly every situation!
We supply professional animal location handlers around the world to ensure you get all the shots you require and, as overseers to ensure the wild is not disturbed, the crew will always be safe and no welfare regulations are ever breached.
It isn’t just the animals that are well trained, our team including our handlers are also highly experienced and fully qualified experts in the field.
Your handler will take full control of any animals on set and ensure the entire shoot runs properly. They will also fully manage the welfare of all the animals both on and off set; the safety and welfare of the animals is their prime concern. All of our handling is strictly force-free and only positive, reward based practices are deployed. This way you can have total confidence that by booking With The Animal Talent everything is taken care of legally, professionally and ethically.
The Performing Animals License is no longer relevant (it was scrapped in 2019) and has been replaced with the Animal Activity Licence, which we hold.
Our lemurs are covered by a £10 million Public Liability Insurance policy.
While the species is diurnal and can therefore work during the day, correct temperatures should be in place (18 to 29°C). Please note, they are social animals and shouldn’t live or really work alone; they have complex needs and require a lot of interaction, enrichment, and stimulation. Handlers of lemurs require a DWA license and therefore strict regulations are in place regarding the transportation, housing and handling of the species. Please call us to discuss filming options with our handlers.
If any species of animal listed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act are required, special measures will need to be put into place for the shoot. Precisely what is appropriate will vary species to species, but may include sectioned off areas where only trained handlers are allowed. In the event of large and dangerous carnivores, a specifically built green screen studio can also be supplied.