Macaco

Well I can pick em.  Dictionary day.  The random word my finger fell on was “Macaco.”  Maybe that is a familiar word to some, but it was foreign to me.  Macaco is basically any form of lemur.  I only know that because I looked it up.  The word is of unknown origin.  Possibly from the Bantu language.  Though it is the Portuguese word for monkey.  Lemurs are from the family, “Lemuridae.”  I only throw that in to throw you off the track, and to maybe make you think I know what I’m talking about.
Meerkats and Lemurs appear incredibly alike, but are totally different.  I got confused but Merril recued me just in time.  Meerkats are a single species of Mongoose, while Lemurs are a diverse group, and most are endangered.   
The lemur’s breeding season is from about April to June.  Females gestate for about 146 days and on average live about 18 years.  In the mornings they like to bask in the sun.  Looking around, today does not seem to be an ideal day for basking.  There are heaps of clouds about.  I know a person can still get burned on a cloudy day, but I am assuming that is secret human knowledge.
But maybe lemurs do bask on cloudy days.  A child lemur may have seen a parent basking on such a day and asked why.  “Well son, it is like this.  I saw my parents doing it, so I tried it.  Sure enough, I got a tan.  I was not born like this.  I needed to work at getting this tan.  One word of advice though.  If it raining it is probably not a good idea to bask.  Tans are harder to come by on such days, and it is preferable not to get wet if you do not have to.  Oh, and while I think of it, don’t spend too much time in the sun unless you use copious amounts of sunscreen.  Sunburn can stifle your activities for days, and a lemurs gotta eat.”
Lemurs are not seen playing in our yard.  Maybe that is because they are found in Madagascar.  And on the Comoros Islands off of the East Coast of Africa.  I did not know they were native to that island until about five minutes ago.  No doubt they are in zoo’s around the place, but they have not become a common pet like a cat or dog.  Thinking they are not here is a presumption on my part though.  I would probably need to look up to see them, because most live in trees and some are active at night.  Maybe I just need to look up into our tree at night, but I am not confident.  I see no scats and think “what’s that?” and find it is evidence of lemur activity.
Merril and I loved the movies “Madagascar” which featured Lemurs.  It was like they had more and more fun with each successive movie. King Julien and his advisor were lemurs.  King Julien has been voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen.   One of those movies featured a large lemur colony.  It was through that movie I learned about their chief natural enemy.  The Fossa, or “Cryptoprocta ferox” to make me appear smarter than I am.
Lemurs are probably liked because they look cute.  Maybe they are like Koalas though in that they are not socially compliant.   But I must admit, although I learned stuff, I did not wake up this morning feeling compelled to investigate lemurs.  It was a word in the dictionary, and now I’ll move on.