the Indri is the biggest of all still today living semi-monkeys. it lives in the eastern rain-forest in Madagascar. This jungle covers the East-hillside of a mountain-comb lying in North-South-direction. At some places, big temperature-fluctuations occur this inhospitable scene. they are enough from far over 30 °C until on 0 °C in the summer in the winter. The Indri lives in this habitat populated with a diverse plant world as far as to a height of 1800 m. The Indri is dependent exclusively on the wet or always moist forest. it doesn't switch different than some other Madagascan semi-monkeys to any other habitat and vanishes completely there, where the rain-forest, increasingly faster, the ax to the victim falls. Today, the Indri is threatened directly by the extinction.
Shape The stummelschwänzige Indri becomes about 80 cm big. it is colored quite sincerely black-and-white in different variations. Males and females externally immediately look and are to be distinguished only at the different behavior.
Usually is face, ears, shoulder, upper arm, backs, hands and feet black. All remaining places are white or gray, sometimes light-ocher or russet until brown, with reddish-orange or brown drawings. There are different variations of nearly white forms up to black shapes. The young always are gloomily or even quite black.
The Indri has a nearly ape-similar shape with a dog-good muzzle. The muzzle is longer than this the relative Sifakas. The head is round and the protuberant black nose nearly bare. The big, tawny eyes are directional forward, that short, roundish ears in the fur almost completely hidden. The face is framed by a hair-wreath.
Hands and feet are long and very narrow, the hind legs longer than the front-legs. The big toe is especially powerfully developed and forms an especially good gripping-organ together with the narrow foot. The thumb is small, that in 3., 4. and 5. Fingers healed together at the basis.
Locomotion The Indri is on complete tried in the trees at the life. it only rarely comes on the ground once. Here it goes upright, only on the hind legs, and holds up the arms, like the gibbons. Also in the trees, it climbs preferentially in a vertical attitude. it clings at vertical trunks and umgreift trees of over 50 cm of diameter. Frequently, it rests, on a branch sedentary, hands and feet of the trunk clinched, from.
The Indri jumps through the treetops in huge sentences. The body is during the jump, as with the langschwänzigen Sifaka, stretched. The Indri, how many bouncy primates, first lands with the hind legs at the next trunk.
it climbs high trees by including the trunk with poor things and legs and pushing the body abruptly upward, alternate poor and legs in each case simultaneously moves.
Way of life The Indri is day-active, but usually hidden the observer in the dense foliage-roof of the rain-forest. It is called that the Indri more frequently than hears can become see. its loud morning and nightly reputations resemble the howling of dogs or sound, as the reputations of the gibbons, on wide distance like human lutes.
The Indris live in family-groups. The reputations are served as in the choir and are usually answered by other groups, also on wide distance. Between neighboring groups, there are warning-reputations and downright reputation-slaughter. they serve the acoustic demarcation of the territories. The reputations are preferred handed over during the day that is Indris, to however also hear at night.
Beside the acoustic demarcation, the territory is marked also by the males. It becomes with the secretions of a glandular-stain at the throat, but also with the testicle marks.
The Indri settles down in family-groups of a male and a female or two boys. Possibly, the pairs stay together for life. Particularly in the afternoon, one can observe the small group with the fur-care. they dress up with the teeth (semi-monkeys) or the particularly arranged finery-claw of the 2. Toe itself or mutually the fur.
Food With the daily food-search, one half kilometer is put back only approximately. For the whole day, Indris look by leaves, fruits, buds and blooms. The Indri is a pure herbivore.
Reproduction Indris get a young at most once per year. It was born by approximately 5 months in May until June after a Tragzeit. The mother carries the young before the stomach, later on the back, initially crosswise. The baby is suckled a 3/4 year and remains in the family longer time.
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