Living in family units of typically four to five individuals, Coquerel’s sifaka lives in a home range that covers four to eight hectares, although the majority of its time is spent in a core area of just two to three hectares. The home range may overlap with the ranges of other sifakas, but rarely are there any aggressive interactions; instead, groups try to avoid each other (2). Up to 40 percent of each day is spent searching for food, with the sifaka rising early, foraging until a rest period around midday, and then continuing its foraging until early evening. It can cover up to 1,000 metres in a day (2), as it searches for leaves, flowers, buds, fruit and bark on which to feed (4). Leaves, buds and a small amount of bark prevail in the dry season, while during the wet season greater amounts of young leaves, flowers and fruit are consumed (2).
Coquerel’s sifakas typically give birth to a single offspring in June and July after a gestation period of 160 days (2). At first the young infant moves about the forest by clinging to its mother’s front, but after three or four weeks, it moves to ride on its mother’s back, where it may stay until an age of six months. At the age of one, Coquerel’s sifakas reach full adult size (2).