Lemur populations offer particularly valuable information because their environment — Madagascar and the Comoro Islands — is one of the last areas in the world to be impacted by human settlement.

Lemurs measure the impact of human settlement

By Mike Meyer

Frank Cuozzo practices what he calls “extreme anthropology”: studying how geography and human actions have affected — and continue to influence — the evolution and development of lemurs in Madagascar.

Lemurs are a special group of small primates found only on Madagascar and the nearby Comoro Islands. There are about 50 species; most have long, pointed noses and large, bushy tails.

An expert on the ringtail lemur, Frank Cuozzo has developed a specialty in dental anthropology. By examining the teeth of lemurs over many years, he has gained information on their health, feeding habits, and adaptation to their changing environment.

The UND anthropologist, an expert on ringtail lemurs, is part of the interdisciplinary, multi-university Lemur Biology Project, which examines how geography and anthropology affect lemurs living in and around the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve in Madagascar.

Human activity has destroyed the lemurs’ natural habitat, forcing them to move into new areas for which they are not adapted. Cuozzo is working to understand how that has impacted the animals and is shaping their evolution.

“Habitat destruction has shaped the evolutionary ecology of ringtail lemurs,” Cuozzo said. “We examine disease ecology, the transfer of pathogens from humans, and how the health of lemurs is impacted.”

Lemurs offer insight into global evolution and conservation, Cuozzo said. Madagascar was one of the last places in the world to be settled, and humans have inhabited the island for just 2,000 or so years. Before then, lemurs lived in most areas of Madagascar, which ranges from lowland deserts to high mountain plateaus and includes both rainforest and grasslands.

Contrary to the popular movie, “Madagascar,” in which New York City zoo animals escape and accidentally end up on the island, most of the terrain is not tropical rainforest. Cuozzo uses clips from the movie to help his students find differences between real-life Madagascar and peoples’ perceptions of it.

“Most of Madagascar is in serious conservation trouble,” Cuozzo said. “Our goal is to work with the people of Madagascar and the game preserve to balance the needs of a traditional aboriginal society with conservation.”

He and a colleague from the University of Colorado, Michelle Sauther, lead a team that has conducted research on lemurs for more than 15 years. They gather behavior, demographic, health, nutrition, developmental, and genetic profiles, and will compare findings with other scientists to learn how both natural and human-induced habitat variations are affecting lemurs.

One of the best ways to determine health, feeding habits, and evolutionary changes of the animals is by studying lemur teeth. The research team hires a local blowgun expert to tranquilize the small primates. Then the team collars and tags the animals, examines them, and obtains dental impressions. This allows the team to study growth patterns, disease transfer, and the impact of environment on specific groups.

Cuozzo, a dental anthropologist, holds the unofficial record for “most lemur mouths examined,” with more than 140 to his credit. He has also assembled the largest-known collection of lemur dental impressions.

Cuozzo spends each summer in Madagascar, which is nearly 12,000 miles from Grand Forks. “Madagascar is far from everywhere,” he said. “It takes five days to travel to the reserve. It’s one of the most remote places on Earth.”