madagascar may 2, 2010 filed under: extinction crisis,primates,zoo animals,zoo knew — scott gray @ 10:37 pm tags: extinction, lemurs they go from completely motionless to full-out balls of boundless energy, bouncing from branch to branch in a split second. and a visit to the assiniboine park zoo would not be complete without spending a little time at the tropical house watching these prosimians parade through their exhibit with their tails held high. sadly though, the ghosts of the madagascan forests are quickly living up to their name. of the more than 70 species of lemur on the island of madagascar, two-thirds are endangered with extinction. lemur, which means ghost, is an apt name for these mysterious primates that are disappearing from their island home at an alarming rate. thanks to deforestation by humans, lemurs have lost more than 90% of their forest home in the last 100 years. add on the illegal pet trade and hunting for bushmeat