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Headline : Endangered Crowned Lemurs Leap Into Chester Zoo
Caption : Four endangered lemurs have arrived at Chester Zoo as part of an international breeding programme.

The crowned lemurs – one of the world’s rarest primate species – moved to the UK from Montpellier Zoo in France after being carefully matched up by conservationists working to protect the species.

The two males, Hajao (1) and Rak (19), and two females, Ilo (2) and Pia (20), will share their new habitat in Chester with two other species of lemur – red ruffed and ring-tailed.

Primate experts from Chester Zoo eventually hope to successfully breed the species which, in the wild, is in major decline.

Crowned lemurs, like all species of lemur, are native to Madagascar. They live only in forests at the northern tip of the island where their wild number is estimated at less than 10,000.

Large-scale habitat loss across Madagascar continues to be the biggest factor in the demise of the species. They are also hunted for food, with a number known to have been killed to serve a luxury restaurant trade in parts of Madagascar and are also persecuted for their occasional raids on crops, as well as captured for the local pet trade.

Mike Jordan, Chester Zoo’s Collections Director, said:

“After overcoming their initial nervousness, crowned lemurs Hajao, Rak, Ilo and Pia have settled well into their new home and are getting along famously with their bolshie neighbours – a group of ring-tailed lemurs and five red ruffed lemurs.

“As with the vast majority of lemur species, crowned lemur numbers in Madagascar are in decline and, through carefully coordinated international breeding programmes, zoos are playing a vital role in creating a safely-net population as the species tinkers on the edge of extinction.”

Conservationists from Chester Zoo have been fighting to protect habitats and species in Madagascar for almost a decade.

The zoo team is working with field partners Madagasikara Voakajy in the country’s Mangabe New Protected Area, in a bid to protect the forests which are home to thousands of unique species that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, other than on the island.
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