It is monogamous and lives in small family groups, moving through the canopy, and is herbivorous, feeding mainly on leaves but also seeds, fruits, and flowers.

It is revered by the Malagasy people and plays an important part in their myths and legends with various stories in existence accounting for its origin.

The main threats faced by the indri are habitat destruction and fragmentation due to slash and burn agriculture, fuelwood gathering, and logging.

[citation needed] Along with the diademed sifaka, the indri is the largest lemur still in existence; both have average weights of about 6.5 kg.

[14] The indri is a vertical clinger and leaper and thus holds its body upright when traveling through trees or resting in branches.

The silky fur is mostly black with white patches along the limbs, neck, crown, and lower back.

[1][19] Later editions of Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell Mittermeier et al. do not recognize this classification,[14] and recent genetic and morphological work suggests the variation in the indri is clinal.

Habitat fragmentation limits the mobility and capacity of these large groups to break into smaller units.

The dominant female often will displace males to lower branches and poorer feeding grounds, and is typically the one to lead the group during travel.

[8] Infants are born mostly or completely black and begin to show white coloration (if any) between four and six months of age.

Female indri seem to have greater preference for immature leaves than males do and spend more time foraging among them.

A wide variety of plant species are consumed, with members of the laurel family featuring prominently in the diet.

[8] Reproductively mature females have priority access to food sources, therefore they forage higher in the trees than males.

[26] This lemur inhabits the lowland and montane forests along the eastern coast of Madagascar, from the Réserve Spéciale d’Anjanaharibe-Sud in the north to the Mangoro River in the south.

They are absent from the Masoala Peninsula and the Marojejy National Park, even though both regions are connected to forests where indri do occur less than 40 km away.

[citation needed] Countless variations are given on the legend of the indri's origins, but they all treat it as a sacred animal, not to be hunted or harmed.

When the son also disappeared, the rest of the villagers ventured into the forest seeking the two, but discovered only two large lemurs sitting in the trees: the first indri.

[28] The first film of indri was obtained using tape lures, on an expedition forming the basis of David Attenborough's 1961 BBC series Zoo Quest to Madagascar.

[2] The primary threats to its existence are habitat destruction and fragmentation due to slash and burn agriculture, fuelwood gathering, and logging.

[30][31][32] The indri is also widely hunted, despite the many origin myths and traditional taboos (fady) that hold it sacred.