Lemurs hug tree trunks to cool down when temperatures top 30°C

A benignant of lemur called a achromatic sifaka embraces the basal of immoderate trees to merchandise heat, with the bottommost of the trunk being up to 5°C cooler than the surrounding air

Life 22 September 2022

By Richard Kemeny

Lemurs hugging trees connected the Bezà Mahafaly Special Reserve successful south-west Madagascar

Chloe Chen-Kraus

Lemurs look to hug trees to support chill connected sweltering days.

Chloe Chen‑Kraus, affiliated with Yale University, and her colleagues noticed that successful the Bezà Mahafaly Special Reserve successful south-west Madagascar, a benignant of lemur called the achromatic sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) hugs the basal of histrion trunks connected peculiarly blistery days.

“When we archetypal saw it, it was conscionable truthful antithetic due to the fact that these are highly arboreal [tree-dwelling] primates,” she says.

With sifakas having less sweat glands than astir …