Feeding
A blue-eyed lemur female feeds on mimosa flowers. Click image for larger version.
Blue-eyed Lemurs eat ripe fruit, leaves, flowers and occasionally insects. Since the ecology and behavior of the blue-eyed lemur has not been studied in the wild, the feeding information reported here has been obtained from observations of wild populations of black lemurs, but should hold true for the blue-eyed subspecies as well. Groups of black lemurs studied in the wild have been seen to eat primarily fruit during the rainy season when it is readily abundant. During the dry season when fruit becomes scarce, black lemurs turn to leaves, flowers, nectar and seeds. Hence depending on the season, the animals might be described as either frugivores or folivores. In the wild, black lemurs have been observed feeding on animal matter in the form of millipedes. In poor or disturbed habitats black lemurs might be found on the ground, foraging through the leaf litter for fallen fruit or fungi. They have even been seen feeding on soil. Captive black lemurs have been seen catching and eating a variety of birds including cardinals, brown thrashers and eastern peewees.