San Francisco Zoo welcomes 2 rare sifaka lemurs

Friday, August 19, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco Zoo opened a new exhibit on Friday, but first it took certain precautions.

Two sifaka lemurs checked out their new habitat at the zoo's Primate Center.
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From the start, the lemurs showed their tremendous leaping ability -- they can jump 30 feet.

Because of that, the zoo couldn't put them in with the other lemurs, so they built a special enclosure for them.

The space also shows off the lemurs' funny walk.

"They will walk by beatling, a bounce. It is very kind of comical, but at the same time it is very, very graceful," San Francisco Zoo Director of Primates Joe Knobbe said.
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The Sifaka lemurs are native to Madagascar. San Francisco becomes only the tenth zoo to have them.



The two lemurs are expected to breed, so expect to see a baby lemur in a few years.

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