Avahi live in family groups, and spend their days curled up in balls amongst the dense foliage of trees. They live on a mixture of leaves and fruit (where available) and spend very little of their time on the ground. When on the ground, the proceed in a series of bipedal hops, like a kangaroo and their Sifaka relatives. Also they are very nimble at leaping from tree to tree and cling to vertical trunks, bracing their tail against the trunk for added support.

Their calls are very high-pitched or rather weak, making it very hard to pinpoint from the sound where the Lemur is hiding. This is advantageous, for when danger threatens, the Lemur that calls out will not draw attention to its location and the other Lemurs will duck for cover anyway.