I am Lemur

Upon seeing the video was amused, during the video I found myself learning much more about ring-tailed lemurs than I thought that I would, and after seeing the video I realized that through my initial amusement and then my new come knowledge I wanted to know more about not just what lemurs did but what they felt, so this past weekend I really got to know what it feels like to be a lemur.
I woke up in the orange-glow morning and yawned and stretched and I was a lemur: I had a long tail, I had long back legs, I had fur all over my body, and most of all I had an overwhelming urge to sunbathe. I climbed out of my bed and my prosimian brain started to forget what a bed was as I began to search for a tree to do my morning sunbathing in. I had trouble with the doorknob, but I found a tree in the area outside, climbed up with my little hands and feet and sat for a spat while the sun beat down on my cat-sized body, feeling not only safe under the sun, but I also feeling renewed and ready to face the day.
I began to wonder where the rest of my lemur-family was, but my tummy started to tell me to eat, so I climbed down and my mind began to change my Sunnyvale duplex into the lush landscape of the island of Madagascar, where there were Tamarind trees! I now had my eyes set upon the sweet sticky tamarind that lay on the ground; I ate until I saw other ring-tailed lemurs, whom I knew to be my family. I heard the singing of the males, and I knew what the song meant: that the song was of lemur unity, he was singing the song of possession and I knew it. This was ours: this tree, these sweet tamarinds and as far as I could smell, was ours and I felt a sense of belonging like never before.
We all climbed down the tree one by one, each wrapping our clawless hands around the thick branches and we all knew the order and I knew that I wasn't a high-ranking female, and I would never think otherwise. There were females below me too, some even with babies and couldn't help but feel superior to these females and couldn't help but feel inferior to the females above in status. It was something that was familiar to my now vague human mind, that was know forgetting my house, my human companions, paper, pencils, Earth. I knew my place, much like humans take roles in society, but, somehow, I felt that this worked better in my new lemur surroundings; we continued to the cool leaf/grass covered ground to snack some more.
We then found a nice cool spot and just hung out for a while, while the young lemurs played and chased each other around the low trees, there mothers looking on. I sat with a male lemur and picked all the little bugs and other goodies from his coat and I was surprised at how cathartic this was, after all, we were just basically combing each others hair, I could barely remember a comb. All I could think of and remember is that these are key moments in our family, like eating dinner with the family at the end of the day, this time was to strengthen the fibers of the lemurs that I shared this space with. The playing of youngsters, the grooming, the hanging around: it was all played a part in this group, in which I could feel a definite respect and love when my male lemur friend pulled a bug from my fur and chomped on it.
There was a noise from the far end of the area and all of the lemurs' tails went straight up into the air. I knew this to be a warning sign, so I took a break from bug munching to see what was happening, looking over at the movement to the groups left. There, bounding from a high tree was a white furry animal that could only hop on its hind legs to get around so it came fast, lunging from one branch to the next. We stared with curiosity, eyes keeping close contact, as the white fur went by because we knew that these white furry animals were of no harm, and just watched as they passed. My human brain took me back to a time when I would have known the name of this animal. But all we need, that is seem to already know, to know is that they aren’t going to eat our food or harm our young, this no name, but curious looks. I feel pure curiosity when seeing the white leaping animal.
The end of the day rolls around and it is time to retire my furry head, but we eat, a mixture of left over tamarind and leaf buds, a little bit before sleeping. I fall asleep knowing that I will be safe in my family of lemurs, knowing that I will wake tomorrow and have the security of that Tamarind tree to bathe in. I will wake knowing that I will always have sweet tamarind to eat, and will wake with the comfort of Madagascar, and, most of all, I will wake knowing that I am a lemur that feels nothing but things that will get me to the next day. My human mind takes me back to a time when classroom learning and textbooks were the ways to grow up, causing me to stir in my sleep and start to remember the uncertainties of my mind. I wake, a little blurry and light headed, thinking of how much I learned from the lemurs: belonging, rank, respect, love, curiosity and security. If a ring-tailed lemur can convey, respect and teach it, why then is it so hard for the likes of Hominidae to grasp these things harmoniously. My weekend was well spent, and I hope that I don’t forget everything about my day as a lemur as quick as I usually forget my day as a human.