PHOTOS: Endangered lemur 'Sifaka' returns to Maryland Zoo

BALTIMORE, Md. (7News) — The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore welcomed back two Coquerel’s sifakas (shi-FOCKS), an endangered lemur species Tuesday.

The zoo has not had this species since 2021 following the death of Anastasia, a 17-year-old female sifaka.

“We’ve been working on getting sifaka back for almost 2 years,” said Margaret Rose-Innes, General Curator at the Maryland Zoo. “We’re one of only a handful of accredited zoos to house sifaka and expect that we’ll breed this pair once we see how they get along and the male is a little more mature."

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Coquerel’s sifakas are native to Madagascar where they live in the treetops of forests, according to the zoo.

The zoo says this species is different from other lemurs in the way they move having the ability to easily leap more than 20 feet in a single bound.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature listed Coquerel’s sifakas as critically endangered in 2018 due to their loss of habitat from deforestation.

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