Ann Giancarlo, age 12, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, for her question:

What sort of animal is a lemur?

The lemur is a fascinating animal for at least two good reasons. One, the furry little creature has a very interesting life style    and two, people rarely if ever get a chance to take a good look at him. Actually, he is a monkey type animal who makes his home on the far side of the globe. Even there, he is rarely seen because he comes out from hiding only during the night.

Off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean is the tropical island of Madagascar. This is the native home of the fascinating lemur cousins. Other tropical zones are occupied by various apes or monkeys of the primate order. On the island of Madagascar, the primate order is represented by the monkey type lemurs. Most species are much prettier and fluffier than the average monkey. They stare vaguely through huge bright eyes and their pointed muzzles give them a rather foxy expression.

However, the lemurs have monkey type bodies, complete with monkey type tails, hands and feet. Like almost all of the primates, they are expert acrobats and at home in the treetops. Other monkeys chase around during the day, chattering from sunrise to sunset. But not the lemurs. During the day, they are fast asleep among the leafy branches, curled up like kittens with their fluffy tails wrapped around their foxy faces. Not a lemur is to be seen or heard.

But oh how the lemur world changes after darkt Their big fuzzy eyes are gifted with night vision and their big voices holler through the trees. The Malagasy people named them lemurs because this is their word for ghost. These small animals fill the night with a spooky chorus of weird wails and scarey shrieks, with agonizing groans and moans. They certainly are heard, though seldom seen. While whooping and hollering, they swoop from shadow to shadow through the jungle foliage. In lemur country, every night sounds like Halloween.

But to them, this spooky clamor is just normal monkey chatter, wile they search for fruit and nuts, bugs and bird eggs among the boughs. Though very shy of people, lemurs are very fond of each other. Almost always, they live in sizeable groups, sharing their work and play.

Most species are cat sized or rat sized. But the giant of the clan is three feet tall, and often stands and walks on the ground. Lemurs have soft, silken coats ranging through various shades of brown and grey. Some have cunning patches of black and white and one species looks as if he borrowed his tail from a raccoon.

A female lemur bears only one baby at a time. During the day, the little one sleeps safely in mother's arms. At night, it clings to her silken fur while she swoops through the trees. After a year, he or she is big enough to leave her and add a new voice to the nightly clamor. The mother lemur is then ready to bear and rear another only child.