Ring my Tail: The taxonomy and life of the ring-tailed Lemur

Tambako the Jaguar, "Two Lemurs..." 2011

Hello and welcome to the first STEAM action project of my sophomore year! In this unit, we learned about taxonomy, binomial nomenclature, and how Carl Linnaeus changed and developed modern taxonomy. We also learned about Set Theory which is basically categorizing with mathematical language. To prepare for this AP, we went to Lincoln Park Zoo to observe and record an animal of our choosing. I chose the ring-tailed lemur. In this AP, you will learn the taxonomy of the lemur and why it's in each category.

The Ring-tailed lemur, also known as Lemur cattus, can be found in the Comoro Islands of Madagascar. The type of habitat ring-tailed lemurs usually live in is a rainforest type environment with plenty of trees. They often live in female-dominated groups of usually around 17 members. The Lemurs lifespan is usually 16- 19 years in the wild. Interestingly, they are the only lemurs that spend most of their time on the ground instead of trees.

Scientists use something called the taxonomic system to categorize different animals. The taxonomy levels are that we talked about in class are.
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

Here is the Ring-tailed lemur taxonomy

TN "Taxonomy table" 2018

This is a diagram that I made that points out some of the taxonomy levels and how they are categorized.

   

Here is the reference picture:

TN JCA LIH "Venn Diagram" 2018

This venn diagram compares my ring-tailed lemur with my partners' (JCA and LIH) black bear and red panda. It was very difficult to find similarities between the black bear and lemur because it seems like they were total opposites! However, we ended up finding common ground with night vision.

Below I've described the ring-tailed lemur using set theory statements;

Ring-tailed lemur ∈ Primates

Ring-tailed lemur is the set of Primates

Ring-tailed lemur ∉ Carnivores

Ring-tailed lemur is not the set of Carnivores

Monkeys ⊆ Primates

The set of Monkeys is a subset of Primates

Ring-tailed lemur ~Nocturnal

Ring-tailed lemur is an element of Nocturnal'

Ring-tailed lemur ∈ Vegetarian

Ring-tailed lemur is an element of Vegetarian

All in all, I really enjoyed this project it challenged me to draw which I almost never do! I really understood set theory and was able to do this AP pretty easily. I think this AP was a great way to start the new school year!

Citations 

Ring tailed lemur. PA Smith Animal fact guide