Conclusion
After completing all my data collection I have come to this conclusion, that the major influence on the behavior of black-and-white ruffed lemurs is habitat. Since I was able to observe two lemurs in to separate types of environments, I was able to see this first hand. Frankie, the indoor lemur, behaved markedly different from her sister of the same age, Flipper. Flipper's behavior both in activities and in height level was very similar to the behavior of wild lemurs. This is not to say, however, that Frankie's behavior was dissimilar from that of the documented behavior of wild lemurs. Both animals behaved similarly, but not exactly the same as wild lemurs.
Since Flipper's behavior more closely matched to that of the wild lemur population, I would have to conclude that given the opportunity to live in an outdoor cage Frankie too would begin to behave more like a wild lemur. I would also have to conclude that Flipper would behave any more like a wild lemur if given the opportunity to live in an environment more closely related to that of the wild lemur population. As I talked about earlier, during my research I found out about a group of scientist from Duke University that are currently working with some lemurs that were reintroduced into the wild after being born at the Primate Center at Duke University. In studying this group and their findings I found that they had made a similar conclusion. The lemurs that were returned to the wild fully took to life as a wild lemur, and began to behave the same way. This gives great hope towards increasing the wild population through reintroduction.
When I started this project I wanted to know if the behavior of the black-and-white ruffed lemurs that lived in the zoo behaved the same as the black-and-white ruffed lemurs in the wild. The answer I have come out with is no. The differing habitat of the lemurs here in the zoo has changed their behavior, while their behavior is similar to that of their wild cousins it is not the same. Wild lemurs are mostly arboreal, living high up in the trees, and the zoo's lemurs like to roam on the ground and prefer to stay between zero and five feet off the ground. The lemurs in the zoo do demonstrate a matriarchal society, as far as I can tell since their are only the two females present. Even though the behavior of the wild lemurs and the zoo's lemurs is similar, it is not the same.
