The large sloth lemurs (genus Palaeopropithecus) were one of three recently extinct genera of sloth lemur that was found on Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, and were closely related to living lemur

Lemur

Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...

 species found there today. There were three known species, Palaeopropithecus ingens, P. maximus, and P. kelyus. New radiocarbon dates indicate that the large sloth lemurs may have still been living around 1500 CE

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

. It is thought that Palaeopropithecus ingens is mentioned in Malagasy

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 legends as the tretretretre or tratratratra.

Locomotion

The large sloth lemur was long believed to be an aquatic creature, swimming with its eyes, ears and nostrils just above the water. However, this theory was based on misattributed postcranial remains. Charles Lamberton thoroughly refuted this in 1957. Fossils previously assigned to crania of other species were then reassigned to Palaeopropithecus. Postcranial evidence suggests a highly arboreal lifestyle with suspension locomotion, hence the name sloth lemur.

External links

• http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de/zooweb/servlet/AnimalBase/home/species?id=630
• http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Resources/Bestiary/Primates.html#SlothLemur
• New giant lemur discovered, Palaeopropithecus kelyus, http://www.livescience.com/animals/090528-giant-lemur.html