Editing Indri (section)

==Relationship with humans==

===Mythology===
[[Image:Indri-drawing.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A lithograph of "''Indris indris''," (''[[Brehms Tierleben]]'')]]
Across Madagascar, the indri is revered and protected by ''[[Fady (taboo)|fady]]'' (taboos).{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Countless variations are given on the legend of the indri's origins, but they all treat it as a sacred animal, not to be hunted or harmed.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

A legend tells of a man who went hunting in the forest and did not return. His absence worried his son, who went out looking for him. When the son also disappeared, the rest of the villagers ventured into the forest seeking the two, but discovered only two large lemurs sitting in the trees: the first indri. The boy and his father had transformed. In some versions, only the son transforms, and the wailing of the babakoto is analogous to the father's wailing for his lost son.<ref>[http://www.babakoto.eu/Articles/Madagascar/Babakoto/Babakoto-English.htm “The Indri Indri Alias Babakoto, One of a Kind.”] ''Babakoto.eu – Passionate About Travel.'' 23 July 2001. Babakoto.eu.</ref>

Another human-like characteristic of the indri is its behavior in the sun. Like its [[sifaka]] relatives, the indri frequently engages in what has been described as sun-bathing or sun-worshipping. As the sun rises each morning, it will sit and face it from a tree branch with its legs crossed, back straight, hands low with palms facing out or resting on its knees, and eyes half-closed. Biologists are hesitant to call this behavior sun worship, as the term may be overly [[anthropomorphic]]. However, many Malagasy people do believe that the indri worships the sun.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Masson |first1=Jeffrey Moussaieff |title=When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals |date=2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-57420-6 }}{{pn|date=February 2025}}</ref>

===Conservation===

The first film of indri was obtained using [[tape lure]]s, on an expedition forming the basis of [[David Attenborough]]'s 1961 BBC series ''[[Zoo Quest|Zoo Quest to Madagascar]]''.<ref>{{Cite episode |title= Attenborough and the Giant Egg |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00z6dsg|access-date= 2011-07-24 |series= Zoo Quest to Madagascar |network= [[BBC]] |airdate= 2011-03-02}}</ref>

The indri is a [[Critically Endangered|critically endangered]] species. While population estimates are uncertain (1,000 – 10 000 individuals), the population appears to be rapidly shrinking and may diminish by 80% over the next three generations (~36 years).<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> The primary threats to its existence are [[habitat destruction]] and [[Habitat fragmentation|fragmentation]] due to [[slash and burn]] agriculture, fuelwood gathering, and logging. This kind of destruction occurs [[Illegal logging in Madagascar|even in protected areas]].<ref name="2009Schuurman_01">{{cite journal|last1 = Schuurman|first1 = Derek|last2 = Porter|first2 = P. Lowry II|title = The Madagascar rosewood massacre|journal = Madagascar Conservation & Development|volume = 4|issue = 2|date = December 2009|pages = 98–102|doi=10.4314/mcd.v4i2.48649|doi-access = free|hdl = 10535/6625|hdl-access = free}}</ref><ref name="WildMadagascar_16Dec09">{{cite web|last = Gerety|first = Rowan Moore|title = Major international banks, shipping companies, and consumers play key role in Madagascar's logging crisis|url = http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1215-rowan_madagascar.html|publisher = WildMadagascar.org|date = 16 December 2009|access-date = 2 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="2003Horning">{{cite journal|last1 = Horning|first1 = Nadia Rabesahala|title = The cost of ignoring rules: How Madagascar's biodiversity and rural livelihoods have suffered from institutional shortcomings|journal = Paper Presented at the International Conference on Rural Livelihoods, Forests and Biodiversity|date = May 2003|url = http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/corporate/cd-roms/bonn-proc/pdfs/papers/T4_FINAL_Horning.pdf|access-date = 2 March 2012}}</ref>

The indri is also widely hunted, despite the many origin myths and traditional taboos (''fady'') that hold it sacred. Cultural erosion and [[immigration]] are partly to blame for the breakdown of traditional beliefs. In some cases, Malagasy people who resent the protective ''fady'' find ways to circumvent them. People whose ''fady'' forbid them from eating the indri may still hunt the lemurs and sell their flesh, and those forbidden to kill the indri may still purchase and consume them. Indri meat is prized as a delicacy in some regions.<ref name=Mittermeier/>

Only one indri has lived over a year in captivity and none have bred successfully while captive.<ref name=Quinn />