14) Immunology
I know of no studies that relate to immunological investigations.
15) Pathological features
Griner (1983) found that, among the large number of prosimians autopsied by him, ring-tailed lemurs had the fewest mortalities. Most of his specimens were due to trauma or deficient neonatal care. Hemosiderosis and hepatic tumors have been a problem in ruffed lemurs and these conditions are detailed in that chapter.
16) Physiologic data
I know of no blood flow studies before and during pregnancy. We have studied the absorption of iron in ruffed lemurs and found them to have a great avidity for dietary iron. This, we interpreted to be the result of their dependence in nature on tannic acid-containing food such as tamarind fruit (Gonzales et al., 1984). Administration of tea instead of water has reduced this problem in captivity.
17) Other resources
Cell strains of many species of lemurs and related taxa are available from CRES at the Zoological Society of San Diego by contacting Dr. O. Ryder at: oryder@ucsd.edu.
18) Other remarks - What additional Information is needed?
No implanted placenta of a ring-tailed lemur has been described and the uterine circulation needs study.
Acknowledgement
The animal photograph in this chapter comes from the Zoological Society of San Diego. I appreciate also very much the submission of one specimen by Deane Gibson of the Duke University Primate Center in Durham, NC.
References
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