One lemur's vegetable is another man's poison. 

As one of their names suggest, Bamboo Lemurs eat bamboo - almost exclusively in fact, even though the shoots they eat of the Madagascar Giant Bamboo Cathariostachys madagascariensis contains 0.015% cyanide.  How they manage to digest enough cyanide in a day to kill a human is not known, but eat it they do and their distribution is driven by where they can find it. The eastern rainforests is one large belt of their habitat. Two other areas are deciduous dry forests in the west and north west of Madagascar. 

Bamboo lemurs are mid-sized, of body length 26 to 46 cm (about 10 to 18 inches). Their tails are of similar or slightly longer length.  Their body weight is up to 2.5kg (5.5lbs). They have bushy hair of a brown-grey colour. Their muzzle is pointed and ears hidden beneath round muffs of hair. 

There are 5 species of Bamboo lemur (genus Hapalemur) and 3 sub species of one of these: 

Western lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur occidentalis) 

Southern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis) 

Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur (Hapalemur alaotrensis) - found exclusively at Lake Alaotra. 

Golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) 

Eastern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus) subspecies: 

- Eastern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus griseus) - the version we find in the Mangabe Reserve and Mantadia National Park

- Gilbert's bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus gilberti) - the has an incredibly small range in between habitat occupied to the north by H.g. griseus and H.g. ranomafanensis)

- Ranomafana bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus ranomafanensis) - this is found in the southern part of Madagascar's eastern rainforests and in the tropical dry forests and Tsingy de Bemaraha.

There is also a Greater Bamboo Lemur (Prolemur simus) of a separate genus Prolemur. 

The Ranomafana National Park is an excellent place to see bamboo lemurs,  with 2 species there, plus the Greater Bamboo Lemur. Ranomafana is in a very isolated part of this huge country,  so it really needs to be visited as part of an overland journey such as our Madagascar Highlands & Rainforest to Coast. 

Bamboo lemurs live for about 12 years. Females give birth to one or two young between September and January, following 135 to 150 days gestation. Infants are weaned after 4 months and reach full maturity after two years.