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“Lemur Stink Fight” is the 20th episode of Season 3 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on April 21, 2015. Overall it is the 86th episode of the series. The episode was written and directed by Chris Kratt.
In this episode, the Wild Kratts decide to investigate two ring-tailed lemur troops in order to find out why they were fighting. Meanwhile, Donita Donata and Dabio fly to Madagascar to collect scents for fragrant soap and shampoo.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live-action segment. The Kratt brothers are sitting with a troop of ring-tailed lemurs on Madagascar. The troop is starting the day by warming themselves in the sun and grooming each other. Afterward, the Kratt brothers ask their “What if?” question, and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
It is a bright, early morning in Madagascar; Chris and Martin are packing things up to see ring-tailed lemurs. The brothers are about to wake up the crew, but instead a loud ring-tailed lemur call wakes them up. Chris, Martin, and Aviva rush out to the source, but when they reach it, it becomes too late and they watch as two troops quarrelling of lemurs separate. They decide to investigate the reason why the lemurs were fighting by infiltrating the troops. Meanwhile, Donita Donata is flying in her jet, smelling scented soap and shampoo. However, she is disappointed with the smells, calling them “too ordinary”. Knowing that Madagascar is an island full of endemic plants and animals, she decides to go there, believing that Madagascar must have scents that are “special”.
Martin enters the territory of one of the troops. He activates his Ring-tailed Lemur Creature Power Suit after naming a young lemur Clingon. Aviva names Clingon’s troop Troop Clingon. In the other lemur troop’s territory, Chris collects some tamarind fruit. He names his troop Troop Tamarind after activating Ring-tailed Lemur Power. As each brother settles into their roles as members of the troop, they learn that females are the leaders, that they hold their tails high so other members know where the troop is, and that scents are important for communication: lemurs define their territories by leaving scent marks formed by scraping trees and smearing them with oil secreted from their wrists. Other troops respect the marks and do not mess with the marking troop’s resources contained in the marked territory. The Kratt brothers conclude that by marking territories, lemurs prevent fights.
Donita Donata and Dabio are making their way through the Madagascan forest, using a smell detector to find smells. One smell (a lemur scent mark) intrigues Donita, mainly because she has never smelled it before. She orders Dabio to collect as much of the smell as he can.
Chris joins the rest of Troop Tamarind and suns himself. A lemur challenges Chris to a stink fight over his spot. The lemur saturates its tail with scents by rapidly rubbing it against its arm, and afterward waves the scents at Chris. Chris names the lemur Stinkflinger before getting knocked out. Aviva responds by upgrading the Creature Power Suit with scent glands for stink fighting. By the time she is done, however, the crew becomes aware of Donita’s presence in the forest. Aviva finds Chris and informs him of the situation, subsequently giving him the updated Lemur Disc. With the territorial scent marks gone, Troop Tamarind enters Troop Clingon’s territory. While the troops jump fight, the Kratt brothers start scent marking the trees. The fight convinces Donita that she has had it with lemurs, and she leaves Madagascar. The lemurs stop fighting each other after the scent marks are restored. In the end, the Wild Kratts summarize their adventure, and the Kratt brothers stink fight each other for fun.
The show transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers follow lemurs to a ficus tree and watch them scent mark the surrounding trees and stink fight. Afterward, they conclude the episode by saying “Keep on creature adventuring; we’ll see you on the creature trail!”
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Ring-tailed Lemur: Clingon, Stinkflinger
- Warty Chameleon
- Band-eyed Drone Fly
- Bicolored Stink Bug (called Stink bug)
Trivia[]
- Martin calls his lemur troop after Clingon as somewhat of a reference to Star Trek.
- Chris named his lemur troop after tamarind fruit, the lemurs' favorite food. He also names a male from that troop: Stinkflinger.
- This is the second time Martin becomes a young animal and plays with a baby animal, while Chris is an adult and gets into a fight with a dominant animal. The first time was in "Kickin' It With the Roos".
- This is the only time where Donita doesn't actually kidnap an animal as part of her fashion scheme; rather, she steals lemur scent from their territories.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Ring-tailed lemurs like most lemurs have a special tooth for grooming themselves called a toothcomb.
- Ring-tailed lemurs use their signature tail like a flag to signal to the rest of the troop to follow them, in order to not get lost from each other.
- Ring-tailed lemurs mark their territories with scent glands on their wrists.
- Lemurs can use smells to send messages with their tails, with ring tailed lemurs engaging in stink fights.
- Lemurs live in a matriarchal society — females are the dominant leaders and low-ranking lemurs are the last in the group for food and privileges.
- Ring-tailed lemurs do something similar to a yoga lotus pose to bask in the sun and warm themselves up.