Ring-tailed lemur

This distant cousin of apes starts cool mornings sitting upright with arms spread, warming its pale belly in the sun like a yoga pose. Male ring-tailed lemurs also hold 'stink fights', rubbing smelly scent from their wrists and shoulders onto their tails and waving them at rivals.

It is a primate, but it is not a monkey or an ape. It lives wild only in southern and south-western Madagascar. It has a cat-sized body and a longer tail with about 13 black and white rings. The tail cannot grip, but the troop holds tails up like flags when travelling to stay together.

Groups of about six to thirty usually live together, with a female in charge. They walk on all fours on the ground as well as climbing in trees. They eat mostly fruit, leaves and flowers.