Zebu

Zebu is a great listener, and as a result, she knows a lot about what is going on in the park. The band members look up to Zebu and see her as a voice of reason about matters in Ranomafana. Zebu teaches the lemurs that she will be there for them when they need her, but they must learn to make good decisions independent of her council.

Zebu does not have any family around and she appreciates the company the lemurs provide. She also appreciates that the lemurs recognize her wisdom and ask her for advice. Zebu enjoys hearing stories of The Scheming Lemurs' travels and she imagines what it would be like to see Paris in the spring or to go to America. Zebu has not had a chance to travel outside of Madagascar, so these are all things she enjoys in her imagination.

Zebu lives in an old barn behind ranger Rivo's ranger station. When she was younger, she had belonged to the ranger's brother, who is a farmer. There were other zebu cattle on the farm as well, but the brother's kids particularly liked Zebu. As a result, the farmer's kids would read to her and tell her stories, and she became exceptionally educated for a zebu cow. This continued for many years.

Eventually Zebu became too old to pull a plough. The farm was struggling and the brother could not afford to keep a zebu cow who could not work. Ranger Rivo always liked Zebu and couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her. Since no one else would want Zebu as a plough cow, he agreed to let her come live in the park to help keep the grass down around his hut.

When the family that ran the post office moved to 'Tana, the local community decided to put Zebu in charge of the post office. She takes her responsibilities very seriously, though sometimes it is difficult to sort the mail with her hoofs.

While Zebu is cordial to everyone, she sees right through Foosana's tricks and does not really like Foosa.

Douglas "Silky" Sifaka (aka Silky)

Silky is a silky sifaka lemur from Marojejy (MAR-oh-JAY-"G") National Park in northern Madagascar. In the trees, Sifaka lemurs move by swinging nimbly between branches and vines. On the ground, sifakas move by "dancing" sideways. A master musician, Silky is both the band's drummer and studio engineer/recorder. Rarely seen without his signature "Silky Sunglasses," Silky is the most fashionable member of the group. Sadly, like all silky sifaka lemurs, Douglas is endangered.

Silky is stylish, vain, and – sometimes - he takes himself A LITTLE TOO SERIOUSLY. Silky always takes music very seriously. From the sound quality in his recording studio (where he records the band's albums) to the stage setups on tour, he expects and demands perfection.

The folks at The Lemur Letter recently interviewed Silky for their "Gimme 5" – Five questions with a celebrity segment. Here is what they learned about Silky:

The Lemur Letter: How did you come to Ranomafana?
Silky:  I have been through a lot to get here.  When I was only 4 years old, my family and I were chased out of our home in Marojejy national park by illegal loggers. We were then trapped by people catching lemurs for a zoo. They took my parents and my sister, but one of the captors said to another that I was not cute enough for the zoo, so they let me go. You would never believe it now, since I am very good looking and stylish today, but I was kind of awkward and funny looking when I was young. Anyway, the experience with the zoo people made me really sensitive about my appearance, and I became quiet and shy. Because of this shyness, I focused all of my free time on music as a kind of escape. Over the next few years all this music practice turned me into an amazing musician. Now pretty much everybody likes me. I am still a little skittish from having been chased by loggers and trapped by trappers. I am still very claustrophobic and I hate nets. My friends say I kind of freak out when I am in danger… which is actually a lot since I am endangered.

The Lemur Letter: What is your greatest strength?
Silky: I have really good ears. They are really good looking ears, obviously. But more than that, they are really good ears for music. I have the ability to hear a musical note and immediately identify the note as a "C" or a "G" or something like that. That ability is called "perfect pitch." It helps me record music, play music and sing along to music. I don't think I would be such an amazing musician without that ability.

The Lemur Letter: What is your greatest weakness?
Silky: I'm endangered, and I am not outdoorsy. I can't swim very well, and bad things (bee stings, falls, etc) always happen to me on hikes. This would be a particularly bad combination for a lemur living in the wild. So I came to Ranomafana and built my studio here by the village where it is easy to get food.

The Lemur Letter: If you could change one thing about the band, what would it be?
Silky: I love the community and the scenery in Ranomafana, but I think the band should be in London or New York or Shanghai to be closer to our fans and to be on more TV shows and things like that.

The Lemur Letter: The band has unique geographic roots. You have a numbat from Australia, a girl from California, a ring tailed lemur from central-Madagascar, and you are from northern Madagascar. How do you all get along?
Silky: Good question… sometimes we don't! We spend a lot of time together, so we can drive each other crazy. I like Jenny a lot – she has so much energy all the time and always wants to do things. Sometimes it wears me out! I think Mister Lemur can be a nerd at times, but is a great writer and he keeps things organized and things just wouldn't work right without him. Numbat is like that kid brother that gets under your skin, but you love him anyway… though I can't always remember why. Numbat drives me crazy with his lack of culture when we are traveling to other countries. He is always accidently offending people with his jokes and pranks… and it seems he particularly enjoys playing pranks on me! So while we have different personalities, we work well together as a team and a band.

Numbat

Numbat is a banded anteater from the town of Cherry Tree Pool in Western Australia. Born beside a billabong to a family of farmers, Numbat began playing music at the age of two. His musical style was shaped by countless hours jamming with aboriginal children and local indigenous animals such as quokka, wallabies, and rufous treecreepers. Numbat's pursuit of music took him from Cherry Tree Pool to Sydney, on the Eastern Coast of Australia, and then to Ranomafana, where The Scheming Lemurs formed. Numbat plays a Gibson Les Paul electric and a Martin 000 acoustic. He also plays the mandolin.

Numbat was recently the subject of a feature article in Ranoma-flora-and-fauna Magazine. We think you will find this article to be a revealing look into the life of the spunky and rambunctious marsupial.

While it is not uncommon to have Australians visit Ranomafana, most of these visitors are of the human variety. They are usually 18 year olds on their "gap year" or folks on walkabout. However, Australian animals are rarely seen in the park. That makes Numbat, a banded anteater from Western Australia, rather unique.

Numbat gets his name from being a numbat. "Numbat" is the Australian name for what would more commonly be called a banded anteater.

Numbat is a singer and guitar player for international music sensation The Scheming Lemurs. Ranomafana regulars have likely seen him devouring banana splits in The Vanilla Bean Café or burrowed in a hollow log for an after-lunch nap somewhere in the park. But since many locals have not yet had a chance to get to know Numbat, we present a profile on the fun-loving fellow:

Numbat comes from the rural south-west of Australia. Though he lacks the refinement and culture of some of his city-dwelling countrymen, Numbat more than makes up for this with his small town charm. According to Silky, "Numbat is very friendly. He talks to everyone, even if they don't want to talk to him. And he usually won't stop talking until the person just walks away!"

Numbat is particularly handy. The strap on Mister Lemur's bass guitar broke right before they were supposed to go on stage. Silky started freaking out, but Numbat just took off one of his own boots, tied the shoelace of the boot to an extra guitar string and some dental floss, wrapped the whole thing in electrical tape, and made a makeshift strap right on the spot. (If you were wondering where he got the floss, Silky keeps dental floss with him at all times, we are told). Rather than delay the concert, Numbat then proceeded to play the entire concert wearing only one boot. "It just goes to show you what a good friend he can be… when he's not playing pranks on you…" Mister Lemur added.

Ah, right – the pranks. Part mischievous little brother, part crazy-country-cousin, Numbat is all shenanigans on tour. Band members routinely check their shoes before getting dressed to make sure Numbat has not slipped a slug inside or lined the sole with itching powder. When Mister Lemur is distracted, Numbat is known to jump on his back and not let go while yelling, "It's a ringtail rodeo!" as Mister Lemur tries unsuccessfully to shake him off his back.

Numbat's favorite prank, however, is to hide Silky's signature Silky Sunglasses. This is hard to do, since Silky basically wears those glasses all the time unless he is sleeping or bathing. Apparently this causes Silky to completely freak out. It has caused concerts to start late and days to pass where Silky was too mad to talk to Numbat.

Though he will nap elsewhere, Numbat's numbat tendencies come out when he bunks down for the night. He takes pillows and blankets and makes a burrow. Then he squeezes into the burrow head first with his backside closing off the entrance to the burrow. This comes from Numbat's days as a wild numbat. In "the bush," banded anteaters typically sleep in a narrow shaft that is about twice as long as their bodies. A numbat will then sleep in the shaft so that his thick "rump" will block the entrance to the burrow, preventing any predators from getting to them. So when his band-mates say Numbat has "thick skin", he really does. At least, on his backside.

Those who know Numbat well say his biggest weakness is his short attention span. He is very easily distracted and he doesn't want to miss a good time to focus on practice. His lack of social graces can also be a problem and he has cause a number of incidents by not being proper and observing local customs while on tour.

Like many anteaters, his favorite food is ants. He has a particular fondness for ant pies and termite pies. Those are usually only found in restaurants in "Commonwealth Countries" Australia, England, Canada and South Africa, and he will eat virtually nothing else when traveling in those countries.

Interestingly, Numbat does not have a strong Australian accent, and you can't hear it at all when he sings. His second language is Spanish, which he speaks almost fluently. We asked Numbat to tell us about his childhood. Het was born to a family of farmers and he likes to be close to the land, but found farming boring. Music was much more interesting. He had to get out and see the world. That took him to Australia's largest city (Sydney), and then eventually to Ranomafana.

Though we couldn't get Numbat in a candid, reflective mood, we did get one of his band mates to say of him that "Numbat does not think he's all that smart. Otherwise, he has a lot of confidence and really does not fear much. He deals with conflict and change like a hammer deals with a nail".

A source close to the band described Numbat's relationship with his band members as follows: He think's Mister Lemur is kind of a nerd at times. He thinks Jenny is fun and likes her energy, but he gets bored when she wants to do cultural things. Numbat likes Silky because he is cool and because the girls like Silky (and Numbat likes the girls!), but he also can't help himself from playing jokes on Silky because he (Numbat) thinks it is hilarious when Silky freaks out. The band members generally think he is fun and they are impressed with his talent, but some don't like his unreliable nature. It is an interesting group dynamic.

We asked Numbat what motivates him and why he does what he does. Many musicians provide long answers about pursuing artistic passions and changing the world. Numbat simply looked at us like we were crazy and said, "What could be more fun than being a rock star?"

We hope you have had as much fun getting to know a little more about Ranomafana's newest resident rock star as we have!

Jenny Hart

Jenny is from the town of Angels Camp, California, a former gold rush town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. She took piano lessons from an early age and sang regularly with her church and school. Jenny's mother is a teacher and her father is a musician. She has traveled to 35 different countries and every continent except Antarctica. Jenny is also an illustrator and painter.

To help you get a feel for Jenny's personality, we asked several of her friends to give their impressions of her. Here's what they said about her:

Mister Lemur on Jenny:
Jenny has a ton of energy and wants to see and do EVERYTHING! She has guidebooks full of Post-it notes and a whole folder of e-mails with suggestions from friends on things to see and do in each of the countries we are visiting. Sometimes I think she just wants to be an explorer and the music is an excuse to travel and see friends all over the world!

Silky on Jenny:
She loves to go on adventures. She is always talking to the locals and is unfailingly energetic… maybe even a little overzealous. She is often wearing clothing from whatever country we are in, and she is always trying to learn new languages. She speaks Italian fluently, but she also knows some Spanish, French, Turkish and a few other languages I've forgotten.

Zebu on Jenny:
Let's see… Jenny Hart. Woo – I don't even know where to begin. I can tell you she sends a lot of postcards. She is very athletic and she has this photo collection of herself doing handstands in front of famous places all over the world. I can also tell you that just about everyone likes her, and she likes just about everyone. I think her biggest fear is that something cool is going on somewhere (anywhere!) and she is not a part of it!

Tambo on Jenny:
The girl has a sweet tooth, that's for sure. She likes my famous banana splits, of course, but she seems to like all sorts of desserts. Can't say I blame her.

Numbat on Jenny:
Jen has a rich voice and can sing with a lot of soul. Sometimes she questions her singing ability, and we have to give her pep-talks, but once we get through that she goes back to being a total ham on stage. Her personality in the band is basically the same as her personality in the rest of life. She wants to make sure everyone is having a lot of fun. When she is in Ranomafana she lives in the lodge, and all the guests and the people who work there love having her around.

Oliver "Mister" Lemur

Oliver "Mister" Lemur is a ring-tailed lemur from Ranomafana National Park in southeastern Madagascar. In addition to playing the bass, Mister Lemur is an accomplished author. He came to the US as a very young lemur after accidentally stowing away on a ship while vacationing in the port town of Toliara on the southwestern coast of Madagascar. He hid aboard the ship during an intense game of hide-and-go-seek, and the ship set sail before he came out of hiding. In addition to speaking Lemur, Mister Lemur speaks Malagasy (the language of Madagascar natives), English and some French.

He is very thoughtful, rational and even keeled. The makes him a stabilizing force in the band to balance the slightly manic Silky and the wild, crazy and fairly un-cultured Numbat. Mister Lemur is the glue of The Scheming Lemurs and the sane voice when things get crazy.

We asked him to fill out the following questionnaire so you could get to know him better:

Favorite Saying(s): "I'm just not that worried about it." "Today's going to be a GREAT day!"

Favorite Outfit: Overalls. You know I'm too tired when I put them on inside out beneath my underwear.

Peculiar Things About You? I speak in rhyme… much of the time… I love music but I do not sing that well… Things often happen to my long tail.

Biggest Weakness: food

Favorite Foods: bananas. I also like to eat flowers, but that can be a problem for me since I sometimes (embarrassingly) eat flowers from vases in people's homes and restaurants. That can be dangerous, because I sometimes eat fake (plastic) flowers. You can imagine how THOSE taste!

Biggest Strength: I'm a really good writer. I started writing when I was an accidental stow-away and I had a lot of time on a ship. With practice and some good instruction from other writers I became quite good.

Second Language: French

What motivates you? Why do you do what you do? I want to be the best writer since Dr. Seuss. I want to see the world and share it with people who do not have a chance to travel as much as I do.

What is your greatest frustration as a writer? I love kids and animals, but I am skeptical of some grown-ups. Some adults don't treat me as a serious writer because I am a lemur. They say things like, "Why don't you write books for other lemurs? We already have lots of people that write books for people." I really dislike hearing that, but it motivates me to write great stuff and be the best lemur writer ever!

Where do you live? With my parents and sister in our house on Ringtail Lane in Ranomafana.

How did you become a writer? I accidently came to the U.S. as a very young lemur. I was on vacation with my family in the port town of Toliara on the southwestern coast of Madagascar. I was playing hide-and-go-seek with a bunch of other lemurs and I found a great hiding place aboard a ship in the harbor. Lemurs have great noses and great ears, so we take these games very seriously. I fell asleep during one of these games, and I didn't wake up until the ship was sailing full speed out to sea. I was afraid I would get in trouble for being on the ship, so I stayed hiding, only coming out at night to eat left-over food from the kitchen. I got pretty bored in hiding, so I found an old journal one night and began to write to keep myself entertained. I don't know how many days we were at sea, but it must have been four or five weeks. Maybe more. I had never been on a boat before, so I didn't realize how far we had gone. It turns out that ship had gone a LONG way.

Eventually this ship docked in California in the port of Oakland, though I didn't realize where I was at the time. I didn't know anything of the world outside Madagascar, so I figured I was just on the west coast of Madagascar. I could tell from the position of the sun that I was north of Toliara, but I had no idea I was on the west coast of a continent half way around the world.

Anyway, I then snuck into the luggage compartment of a southbound bus hoping it would take me home. I was discovered at a stop in Monterey, a couple hours south of Oakland. The driver saw my ring tail sticking out from behind a suitcase and mistook me for a raccoon. The driver then chased me out of the luggage section with a broom. It was really embarrassing and scary at the same time.

At that point I saw that I was near a beach and thought I might be close to where I had set sail. I walked south for hours, eventually reaching Carmel. I was exhausted by then, so, being a lemur, I climbed a tree and fell asleep. A family of raccoons woke me up a couple hours later. They saw my ring tail and heard my French accent and thought I was a long lost cousin. They gave me food and shelter.

However, at this age, I spoke only Lemur and French, and could not communicate with the raccoons. They saw that I carried a journal full of notes and stories in French, though they could not read them.

One of the raccoons' favorite restaurants in town was the garbage can of a retired French teacher and her writer husband. One of the older raccoons said, "Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Branner will know what to do with this French speaking writer."

I was still pretty weary at that point, so that night, the mother raccoon put me on her back and carried me (and my journal) to the couple's front door. She then set me down, rang the doorbell, and scampered into the bushes.

Mrs. Branner opened the door and saw me, small and scared and cold and helpless, and immediately took me inside. She wrapped me in a blanket and gave me a bottle of warm milk. It was dark outside, and she didn't see my journal by the door.

The Branners were recently retired and they were excited to travel the world, so they knew they could not keep me. But for one night, they give me a warm bed and I was just happy to be someplace that felt safe.

The next morning they picked up my blanket and put me in an open shoe-box. It wasn't much of a new home, but I figured I would get used to it.

Instead, the Branners promptly carried me and my shoe-box out the door to take me to the pound. On the way out, Mrs. Branner noticed my journal on the ground and she bent over to pick it up. I was very excited at the prospect of being reunited with that journal. She said, "My, what odd things we find outside our door these days!"

As she stopped to pick it up, Mr. Branner said, "Come on, we're going to be late," but she grabbed the journal anyway and put it in her pocket… then she promptly forgot about it.

They took me to something called animal control, which was basically the pound. The people at the pound told the couple they would keep me in a cage for a week, and if anyone reported they had lost a lemur they would return me to that family. If not, they would see if the local zoo needed another lemur, otherwise…

He didn't say what the "otherwise" was, but I knew it would not end well, and Mrs. Branner seemed to know that as well. I later learned that the zoo had no budget and since I had no collar, I was in a very sticky situation.

When Mrs. Branner got home and reached in her pocket for her reading glasses she found the notebook tucked inside. Curious, she made a cup of chamomile tea and put on her reading glasses. She was surprised to find French writing inside. The handwriting was small, and it was choppy, like it had been written in a bumpy car or a rocking boat.

Mrs. Branner started reading and was absorbed by the story inside. It was written in a child's handwriting and had many spelling and grammar mistakes, but the story was moving and the writing style (much of it rhyming) showed a writer with real talent.

She quickly pieced things together and the couple rushed back to the shelter to retrieve me.

Mrs. Branner gave me my journal and a small pen, and we began to communicate. I wrote that my name was Oliver Lemur, but most people called me Mister Lemur. I told her I wanted to be a writer someday, but right then, what i really wanted to was to go home to see my family in Ranomafana.

The Branners were going to be leaving on a trip in 6 months, then they would be traveling for another 5 months, getting to Africa near the end of the trip. They said that if I would stay with them until the trip, they would help me develop my writing skills, then take me back to Ranomafana. They also said that they were going to 7 other countries first, and that I would have to come with them on the adventures before I could get to Ranomafana.

This story is already getting pretty long, so I won't go into too much more detail, but I got a lot of instruction from The Branners over the next 11 months, and that launched me into my writing career. So as scary as my accidental stow-away experience was, it sparked my interest in world travel and brought some wonderful people into my life.

Tambo

Tambo (pronounced "Tom –Bo", like a "Bow and Arrow") is a black-and-white ruffed lemur from Ranomafana. He is the owner of The Vanilla Bean Café, a favorite hang out for tourists and locals alike in the park. Tambo's banana split is famously good, and is the most popular item on his menu.

Tambo is very business savvy, though contrary to what some people say, he cares about more than just making money. He is one of the older lemurs in the park, and is one of the best dressed as well. You will typically find Tambo wearing slacks, dress shoes, a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, a necktie, and a fedora style hat.

Tambo's decision to build a stage in The Vanilla Bean Café for local artists was a huge boost to the local Ranomafana music scene. The Scheming Lemurs, Foosa Fossana and local bands from all over Madagascar can be found playing live music in and around The Vanilla Bean.

Foosa Fossana

Foosa is an aspiring pop singer from Ranomafana. She usually performs with the Bad Bean Backup Band and is often seen on stage at The Vanilla Bean Café, where she is usually the opening act for The Scheming Lemurs. She has yet to achieve any international success, but the band will occasionally bring her on regional tours as an opening act to support the local Ranomafana music scene. While some might appreciate the opportunity that opening for The Scheming Lemurs provides, Foosa has grown jealous of the band's success.

When asked about her career goals, Foosa commented that "Unlike most of The Scheming Lemurs, I am actually from Ranomafana. I have more talent in my foosa-snout than those lemurs do combined, but everyone seems to want to pay attention to them. Once I get out of this park and get discovered, I'll be WAY bigger than they are. I know people here will be so proud of me when I'm starring in New York and London and all over the world."

Foosa lives in a lair in a Banyan tree. She is rather solitary and outside of the Bad Bean Backup Band members and Lava, the leaf gecko, she does not regularly spend time with others.

Since Zebu has been around Ranomafana about as long as anyone, we asked her for her recollections of Foosa's childhood. According to Zebu, "Foosa Fossana didn't get enough attention when she was growing up. Her parents pushed her to be a singer, and even though she is talented, she didn't live up to their expectations. That has made her very motivated to succeed, but she does not 'play well' with others.

Foosa believes she is talented enough to be internationally successful, and that the only reason she is not famous worldwide is that people only want to ask about The Scheming Lemurs. She is smart, and she may have success yet… but she needs to learn that you work with others - not against them - to be successful in the world.

Parents - Delighting & Educating

We exist to delight and educate young readers. The Scheming Lemurs inspire a love of language and encourage children to express themselves creatively.

School Assemblies

The writing process comes alive as Stanford-educated author Jen Hartvickson shares her experience creating books like Mister Lemur's Train of Thought, Lemur Pup's Santa Claus Alarm and It Will Take a Lot of Us to Lift a Hippopotamus.

See Jen in action

Adventures in Writing Camp

Authors, teachers, and musicians are teaming up to help your child fall in love with writing this summer! These two week programs around California and Nevada allow campers entering grades 2-5 to write, edit, and publish their own eBooks. Lessons are delivered as songs, and new writing skills are practiced through games, theater and songwriting. The program is designed to inspire reluctant writers and delight those that already have "the bug." Learn more by watching the video at www.AIWcamp.com.

Educators - Delighting & Educating

We exist to delight and educate young readers. The Scheming Lemurs inspires a love of language and encourages children to express themselves creatively.

School Assemblies

The Mister Lemur Assembly Experience is much more than an author visit. Using stories and songs, Jen makes writing come alive as she walks students through the process of writing, drawing, editing and printing books.

About Mister Lemur assemblies