World Lemur Day celebrated in Madagascar with new postage stamps

Oct 29, 2021 / Mongabay / Story by Erik Hoffner

  • To mark World Lemur Day, the Madagascar Post Office has announced six new lemur stamps, including the recently described mouse lemur, at a ceremony in the capital, Antananarivo.
  • The country is known as the home of these iconic animals, many of which are threatened with extinction.
  • Mongabay Kids is also celebrating lemurs by providing an array of lemur-themed news and activities.

World Lemur Day kicked off today in Madagascar, the global home of these iconic primates, at Parc Tsimbazaza, the National Zoo, with a day full of activities, many for children.

An event yesterday in the capital of Antananarivo marked the announcement of six new postage stamps celebrating lemurs, including the recently described mouse lemur Microcebus jonahi, the black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus), the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema), and the brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus).

The sixth stamp is of primatologist, conservationist and professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy, who was recently elected President of the International Primatological Society. The stamps are aimed at raising awareness of this aspect of the country’s rich natural heritage (view all of Mongabay’s Madagascar coverage here).

A Jonah’s mouse lemur (M. jonahi). Image by Dominik Schüßler.

Lemur expert Patricia Wright was there to help celebrate these amazing animals:

“It was such an historic event to have lemurs honored with these six beautiful stamps, reminding the country and the world of these valued primate treasures,” Wright told Mongabay by email. She is executive director of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments at Stony Brook University and founder of the country’s Centre Valbio, which supports the study of Madagascar’s unique wildlife, develops understanding of the links between the environment and the rural economy, and more.

Mongabay Kids got in the spirit too by celebrating its World Lemur Festival, leading up to World Lemur Day today, October 29th, 2021. In partnership with the Lemur Conservation Network, they’ve provided teachers and parents lemur-themed news and activities for kids.

Mongabay Kids is celebrating World Lemur Day 2021 here.

If you want to celebrate more, listen to an interview our podcast recently published featuring researcher Valeria Torti, who uses bioacoustics to improve conservation of critically endangered indri lemurs in Madagascar’s Maromizaha forest. She plays a number of recordings she’s made of the primates’ incredible songs, click the play button here:

Here is Professor Ratsimbazafy with the stamp of the mouse lemur, Microcebus jonahi, which was described and named after him last year:

Image courtesy of Patricia Wright.

Mongabay was named for a richly-forested island off the coast of Madagascar, called Nosy Mangabe, which is one of the best places to see aye-aye lemurs in the wild.

View all of Mongabay’s news content related to lemurs here.