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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be one of our animals? How would you spend your day, what would you eat and when would you sleep? Read on to find out how Hiccup the Ring-Tailed Lemur spends a typical day!
“My name is Hiccup, and I was born at the Lake District Wildlife Park last year. Every morning I have a stretch and look out of the window of my heated house that I share with the rest of my troop. I check the weather and if I can see the sun rising over the skiddaw mountain range I bound outdoors into the fresh grass. The younger Lemurs like me are full of energy and we climb up the trees which gives us a great vantage point over the whole of the Lake District Wildlife Park. After checking to see if Nobby the Lar Gibbon is singing up in his tree and looking to see if Amber and Koji the lazy Otters are out of bed yet, I clamber back down the tree.
Time for a bit of a sunbathe whilst my siblings and I, and my extended family wait patiently for Vicky our Keeper to turn up with breakfast. It is one of my favourite meals of the day, primate pellets, which look a lot like cheerios to humans! I then supervise Vicky cleaning up our poop and check that she is putting our fresh water and bedding in the correct place. She often leaves us some toys to play with, such as a tub full of balls or a big ball on a rope that we can swing off.
After a play and an explore around the enclosure I wait to see if one of the Keepers turns up with some humans for us to meet. Being inquisitive animals, we often go and check them out and see if they have brought any scrummy vegetables for us to eat. I am always on the look out for sweet potato and beetroot! The Keeper explains how Lemurs are endemic to the island of Madagascar (which means that is the only place they live in the wild). Lemurs like me that live in the wild are endangered and they face risks such as habitat destruction, the pet trade and poaching. However, not all humans are bad and conservationists and charities like SEED Madagascar do their best to help protect my relatives.
The humans do not stay for long and so some of the older Lemurs cuddle up and have a nap. The younger ones go for another explore or practise our leaping skills. Did you know that Ring Tailed Lemurs like me can leap up to 7 metres? Later in the afternoon Vicky often returns with some browse such as willow branches and we munch on the leaves. On hot days we get beetroot ice pops or frozen seed cakes! All this food keeps us going until tea-time which usually consists of more vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and peppers. As the sun starts to set, we retire into our house for the night or head back up into the trees where we rest and recharge for the next exciting day ahead.”
We hope that you enjoyed Hiccup’s story and it gave you an insight to how our Ring-Tailed Lemurs spend their day. If you want to learn more about them, do come and visit us and our expert Keepers will tell you all about them.