Due to this lifestyle, they also sunbathe; the lemurs can be observed sitting upright on their tails, exposing their soft, white belly fur towards the sun.

Like other lemurs, this species relies strongly on their sense of smell, and territorial marking, with scent glands, provides communication signals throughout a group's home range.

The males perform a unique scent-marking behavior called spur-marking and will participate in stink fights by dousing their tails with their pheromones and “wafting” them at opponents.

Additionally, lemurs of both sexes will scent-mark trees, logs, rocks or other objects by simply rubbing their faces and bodies onto it, not unlike a domestic cat.

Experiments have shown that the ring-tailed lemur, despite the lack of a large brain (relative to simiiform primates), can organize sequences, understand basic arithmetic operations, and preferentially select tools based on functional qualities.

Local Malagasy farmers and logging industries frequently make use of slash and burn deforestation techniques, with smoke being visible on the horizon on most days in Madagascar, in an effort to accommodate livestock and to cultivate larger fields of crops.

[7] Being familiar with the works of Virgil and Ovid and seeing an analogy that fit with his naming scheme, Linnaeus adapted the term "lemur" for these nocturnal primates.

[7] It has also been speculated that Linnaeus may also have known that some Malagasy people have held legends that lemurs are the souls of their ancestors,[10] but this is unlikely given that the name was selected for slender lorises from India.

[3] Following Linnaeus's species description, the common name "ring-tailed maucauco" was first penned in 1771 by Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant, who noted its characteristic long, banded tail.

The now universal English name "ring-tailed lemur" was first used by George Shaw in his illustrated scientific publication covering the Leverian collection, which was published between 1792 and 1796.

[20][3][19] In 1991, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey H. Schwartz reviewed the evidence and came to a different conclusion, instead favoring to return the members of Eulemur and Varecia to the genus Lemur.

[16] Because of the difficulty in discerning the relationships within family Lemuridae, not all authorities agree on the taxonomy, although the majority of the primatological community favors the current classification.

The thicker coat was considered a local adaptation to extreme low temperatures in the region, and the fading of the fur was attributed to increased exposure to solar radiation.

[27] The tapetum is highly visible in this species because the pigmentation of the ocular fundus (back surface of the eye), which is present in—but varies between—all lemurs, is very spotty.

Another shared characteristic with the other strepsirrhine primates is the rhinarium, a moist, naked, glandular nose supported by the upper jaw and protruding beyond the chin.

Together with the incisor-shaped (incisiform) lower canines (c1), which are slightly larger and also procumbent, form a structure called a toothcomb,[3] a trait unique to nearly all strepsirrhine primates.

It may also be used for grasping small fruits, removing leaves from the stem when eating, and possibly scraping sap and gum from tree bark.

[25][21] Depending on location, temperatures within its geographic range can vary from −12 °C (10 °F)[24] at Andringitra Massif to 48 °C (118 °F) in the spiny forests of Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve.

[37] This species is found as far east as Tôlanaro, inland towards the mountains of Andringitra on the southeastern plateau, among the spiny forests of the southern part of the island,[25][21] and north along the west coast to the town of Belo sur Mer.

[35] The ring-tailed lemur is an opportunistic omnivore primarily eating fruits and leaves, particularly those of the tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica), known natively as kily.

[25] The ring-tailed lemur eats from as many as three dozen different plant species, and its diet includes flowers, herbs, bark and sap.

Agonistic encounters include staring, lunging approaches and occasional physical aggression, and conclude with troop members retreating toward the center of the home range.

The ring-tailed lemur will perform a handstand to mark vertical surfaces, grasping the highest point with its feet while it applies its scent.

The thorny spur that overlays the antebrachial gland on each wrist is scraped against tree trunks to create grooves anointed with their scent.

[42] Due to harsh environmental conditions, predation and accidents such as falls, infant mortality can be as high as 50% within the first year and as few as 30% may reach adulthood.

In 1991 and 1992, for example, a severe drought caused an abnormally high mortality rate among infants and females at the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve.

[62] Ring-tailed lemur populations can also benefit from drought intervention, due to the availability of watering troughs and introduced fruit trees, as seen at the Berenty Private Reserve in southern Madagascar.

[64] The first mention of the ring-tailed lemur in Western literature came in 1625 when English traveller and writer Samuel Purchas described them as being comparable in size to a monkey and having a fox-like long tail with black and white rings.

[3] Charles Catton included the species in his 1788 book Animals Drawn from Nature and Engraved in Aqua-tinta, calling it the "Maucauco" and regarding it as a type of monkey.

The troop included a special infant named Sapphire, who was nearly albino, with white fur, bright blue eyes, and the characteristic ringed tail.