Social Behavior
A "lemur ball" of resting mongoose lemur on the forest floor. Click image for larger version.
Social life: Mongoose lemurs live in small family groups consisting of a monogamous adult pair and one to three of their immature offspring. As is true of most lemur species, females are usually dominant to males, taking preferential access to food and the choice of with whom to mate. At sexual maturity (2.5-3.5 years old), offspring are encouraged to leave the family group by the parents. This also occurs in captivity, or, in rare instances, the offspring might kick a parent of the same sex out of the social group. Breeding is extremely seasonal and infants are born mid-October in Madagascar, mid-May at DLC. Single infants are typical, but twinning occurs rarely.
As the family group travels through the forest, they maintain extremely close contact. Home ranges are small and there is often overlap with the range of another group. Neighboring groups encounter each other rarely, but when they do, the encounters are marked by aggressive vocalizations, much scent marking and physical charges and threats.