The first field day at Beza Mahafaly, we went in the morning to capture two young sifaka lemurs. They are so cute!! They are cream colored and brown with black skin underneath and a chocolate cap. These two, a male and a female, were from the same group, which is a cluster of animals that lives together. We also learned that ambony means “high” in Malagasy and ambany means “low” in regards to the location of the lemurs in the trees. Once captured, data from the lemurs was collected. This included weight, length of certain body parts, types of parasites found on the animals, and other various measurements and observations. This data is collected to monitor the different groups found in forests in the reserve. The researchers can then analyze the data and use it to work on conservation efforts for the animals and the status of those efforts.
