Why Lemurs in Madagascar Rub Millipedes on Their Fur

Some lemurs in Madagascar appear to use millipedes the way other animals use dust, mud, or aromatic plants: as a practical defense against irritation. Researchers have observed lemurs picking up millipedes, chewing or crushing them slightly, and then rubbing the animals’ secretions onto their fur and bodies.

Millipede Secretions on Fur

The behavior matters because millipedes do not just sit there. When disturbed, many release chemical compounds as a defense. In lemurs, those secretions are thought to serve another purpose. They may help repel biting insects such as mosquitoes, and they may also help with skin discomfort or minor infection risk, especially where the animals apply them more directly.

Animal Self-Medication

This is not a random interaction. The lemurs seem to be exploiting a built-in chemical defense from another species and redirecting it for their own use. That places the behavior within a broader pattern sometimes described as animal self-medication, where an animal uses material from its environment in a targeted way rather than simply encountering it by chance.

Functional Behavior in Madagascar

The observation has been reported in multiple lemur species, which suggests it is not an isolated oddity. Even so, the exact benefit is still framed with some caution. Researchers can observe the rubbing behavior and identify the millipedes’ defensive secretions, but the degree to which the chemicals prevent bites, reduce irritation, or lower infection risk in wild lemurs is harder to measure directly.

What is clear is that the behavior is functional. In Madagascar’s forests, where biting insects are a routine problem, a millipede can become more than prey or a passing invertebrate. For a lemur, it can be a portable chemical tool, used for maintenance.

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