Lemur catta
- noun
- Specialized
:
lemur de cola anillada
- At the zoo, children watched a group of Lemur catta leap from branch to branch.
Examples
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Scientists have studied how the Lemur catta communicates using vocalizations and scent marking.
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The Lemur catta is known for its distinctive tail.
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The Lemur catta is easily recognized by its distinctive striped tail and social behavior.
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Many tourists visit Madagascar to see the Lemur catta.
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The Lemur catta, known for its distinctive ringed tail, often gathers in groups of up to 30 individuals.
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Visitors to Madagascar are excited to see the Lemur catta playing in the trees of its natural habitat.
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The Lemur catta uses its tail for balance while leaping effortlessly between branches.
Synonyms
1
5.0
A small animal from Madagascar with a long tail that has black and white rings
A small lemur from Madagascar with a long tail that has black and white rings
Surface Forms
Morphology
lemur + catta
This is a Linnaean binomial (genus + specific epithet): the first element 'lemur' names the animal and the two-word form signals a particular species, so the overall meaning 'a species of lemur' is directly derivable. Scientific names in many languages follow the same pattern, making the compositional logic transparent to learners who know the constituent elements.
Etymology
Lemur catta comes from old Latin words: lemur meaning 'ghost' because people who first saw them thought their bright eyes and calls looked ghostly at night, and catta meaning 'cat' for their cat-like face and movements. So the name makes a simple image: a 'ghost-like cat' with a long, striped tail, which helps explain why we use it for this lemur species from Madagascar.