Megaladapis skull from the collection of the DLC’s Division of Fossil Primates.
By Matt Borths, Curator of the Duke Lemur Center’s Division of Fossil Primates.
Meet Megaladapis, a gorilla-sized lemur that would have moved like an enormous koala! This giant lemur only went extinct between 500 and 300 years ago. Some researchers think there are trees in Madagascar that are still around that relied on Megaladapis to help disperse seeds. Our living lemurs are extremely vocal, especially the ruffed lemurs and the indri; we can only imagine what the forest would have sounded like with Megaladapis around! This giant lemurs’ calls would have been deafening.
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