Ring-Tail Lemur Society

Matriarchal Society
Ring-tailed lemurs live in a strictly matriarchal society where females are dominant. The dominant position is normally acquired by females within troops. Males all rank below the females. Female lemurs are the leaders of the troop. A troop of ring-tailed lemurs can consist of twenty or so members led by a top ranking female. She is the leader of the troop and decides where the troop goes to forage and gets the first access to resources like food, water and the best sleeping perches. Females do not always inherit their mother's rank unlike most matriarchal animal societies. One a female lemur reaches the adulthood age of 4, they fight for their own rank. She may end up ranking above or below her mother. Male lemurs do not inherit their mother's rank. From the birth, male offspring may have a high rank and get lost of attention like most babies from a high ranking mother, once they reach adolescence at the age of 1 year, they rank below all the females including their mothers. Males that do get dominant positions, still however rank below all the females. Even the lowest ranking female is dominant to him. Troops of closely related females have a family pecking order. The dominant female, who is leader, has relatives who are most closest to them, are the ones who rank high. Meaning that all the females closest to the dominant female(like mothers and sisters) rank high in the troop and so do their offspring. The aunts and cousins rank low. Female lemurs stay in the troop for life and so it is very rare for a female to join another troop. Males leave the troop at the age of 2-3 to find unrelated females from other troops. If a dominant female dies, then the most likely to take over will be her sister or mother.