"Lemur" is Latin for ghost. The first red-ruffed lemurs were discovered in Madagascar by early French explorers, who heard the animals' plaintive calls and wild shrieks and mistook them for the souls of the dead.

Ring-tailed lemurs use specialized scent glands located on the inside of their arms to mark their territories. They often rub their tails on these glands and then wave their tails in the air at an intruder as if to say "back off"! This is called stink-fighting.