by Playfuls Staff |
22nd November 2006
Scientists from Germany have discovered three new species of tiny primates in inaccessible mountains of Madagascar, they said Wednesday at a Hanover veterinary [more] college.
The mouse lemurs, as the name suggests, are related to monkeys but no larger than mice.
The research, to be described in the next issue of the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, shows that animals, which look identical to other previously known lemurs, are in fact three new species.
A team led by Gillian Olivieri spent 14 months studying wildlife in the area. At 12 to 17 centimetres, the tails of the lemurs are longer than their 10-centimetre bodies. They sleep all day in nests or hollow trunks and hunt insects and fruit at night.
Reference: DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.026
© 2006 DPA
