My day as a zookeeper: L is for Lemur, amongst other things

One of the greatest things about Colchester Zoo is their new lemur exhibit, and as I'm a huge lemur fan from my childhood days watching 'Animal Magic', I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity to spend some quality time with them.

My new best friend. He only loves me for my raisins...

I had already met the two red-ruffed lemurs, stroked their fur and made a fuss of them, and discovered that their snouts are like the softest leather. They're patient little fellows too, although they're a bit timid if you rush at them. Luckily, my years of experience of cats has taught me that you need to approach them slowly, so that they can see you, and I was tolerated sufficiently to get close.

But the highlight was my visit to the Lost Madagascar exhibit. My job was to sit on a rock in the exhibit, armed only with a handful of raisins, and deal with the ring-tailed lemurs. It appears that raisins are a huge treat for lemurs, and that they are only fed to them once a week, which meant that, at the first scent of raisins, I was mobbed by the entire troop, babies and all.

I can assure you that they are very persistent, but I did try to make sure that everybody got a treat, and the zoo visitors on the walkway through the exhibit did get to see what it is like to be covered in lemurs. Luckily, I'm a fairly solid citizen these days, so I was able to remain stable and focussed.

All I want now is a chance to travel to Madagascar, to visit the lemurs in their natural environment. I'll need to persuade Ros, methinks...

There are other animals beginning with L. I wasn't allowed to interact with them directly, for reasons that will become clear soon...