Ring-tailed Lemur Social Grooming: Photos and video

Lulu and Stewart grooming one another. Photo by Sara Clark.

On warm summer mornings like this one, the DLC’s ring-tailed lemurs can often be found combing each others’ fur! With the exception of the aye-aye, all lemurs’ bottom teeth form a special “toothcomb” structure, which they use for grooming themselves and other lemurs. Grooming is an instinctive social behavior that is not just hygienic, but also strengthens the social bonds within the group.

Here, Sprite’s group grooms each other on July 19, 2018 between 11:45 AM and 12:15 PM EST. Enjoy DLC communications intern Laura’s images below, then click here to watch her video!