Northern sportive lemur have large bacteria-filled ceca, which helps them to digest plant matter such as cellulose and break it down into sugars and starches. The northern sportive lemur is preyed on by the native Malagasy tree boa, which hunts the lemurs while they are sleeping in tree holes. Large birds of prey, Falconiformes and Strigiformes, are also natural predators of the lemurs. Along with these ecological threats, the arboreal lemur species are also highly threatened by human charcoal production, which still continues to remove the only remaining forest habitat of the lemurs, greatly restricting their range. "L. septentrionalis" is also illegally hunted
British Birds Rarities Committee existed in Scotland. In 2009, this species was removed, along with white-billed diver and cattle egret. Once removed, a species is classed as a "scarce migrant": "British Birds" publishes a separate annual report summarising the occurrence of these species, and the data is also presented on the Scarce Migrants website. In addition to parrot crossbill, four species, Cetti's warbler, little egret, long-tailed skua and Mediterranean gull, have become so common that they no longer qualify even as scarce migrants. The committee has ten voting members, a chairman (who may be one of the ten, or may be another, non-voting individual)