Microcebus rufus
Silhouette: Maky (vectorization), Gabriella Skollar (photography), Rebecca Lewis (editing) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus) is a small primate, and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. They are known also as the rufous mouse lemur, eastern rufous mouse lemur, red mouse lemur, or russet mouse lemur. Its dorsal side is brown or reddish-brown, while ventrally it is a whitish-grey.
The mouse lemurs are among the shortest-lived of primates. The brown mouse lemur has a lifespan of 6–8 years in the wild, although it averages 12 years under human care. It can be found in rainforests in eastern Madagascar. It is a solitary and nocturnal creature.
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described this species in 1836 when he described the genus Microcebus, and is sometimes incorrectly cited as the author of this species, but he neglected to assign it a specific epithet. René Lesson would later give the animal a proper taxonomic name as Microcebus rufus. Wilson & Reeder's 2005 mammal checklist Mammal Species of the World recognized Geoffroy as the correct taxonomic authority despite the lack of a taxonomic name. The ITIS and American Society of Mammalogists both recognize Lesson as the correct authority.
It was considered a subspecies... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Mouse Lemur sighting in Ranomafana National Park on a given day, based on 80 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 14 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Mouse Lemur in Ranomafana National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month. That is one of Ranomafana National Park's driest months, with about 130 mm of rain against 450 mm in January.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous Mouse Lemur sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Ranomafana National Park, in our data
Ranomafana National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Rufous Mouse Lemur sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Primates
The closest relatives of the Rufous Mouse Lemur that you can see in Ranomafana National Park (order Primates) are Golden Bamboo Lemur (about 80%), Milne-Edwards' Sifaka (about 70%) and Red-fronted Brown Lemur (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous Mouse Lemur is recorded against all the mammals logged in Ranomafana National Park (80 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
