Feeding
A diademed sifaka sniffs a flower. Click image for larger version.
The diademed sifaka diet consists primarily of leaves, flowers and fruits, the proportion of each varying with the season. Studies of this sifaka have reported that it may feed on over 25 different plant species daily. Generally, the diademed sifaka will forage in the upper part of the canopy, but the animals occasionally descend to the ground to feed on fallen fruit and, when the weather is warm and sunny, to engage in bouts of wrestling and other forms of play behavior. Although the diademed sifaka shares its range with the large leaf-eating Indri, there is very little overlap between the plant species fed on by these two species, reducing competition for food between them to a minimum.