The time is now

Duke Lemur Center

2 days ago

Some recent photos of a few gorgeous red ruffed lemurs 🤩

Hoku, Spock, Mae, and Kitt show off their namesake red ruffs! Ruffed lemurs are the largest pollinators in the world, catching pollen in their fluffy facial hair while drinking nectar and spreading it from flower to flower as they snack. This makes ruffed lemurs a crucial part of the rainforest ecosystem in northeastern Madagascar. Saving these critically endangered lemurs means saving the other plants and animals that call these forests home 🌸

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

New year, same mission: protect the world's most endangered mammals 💙

📸: Sara Nicholson (1,2,4,5); David Haring (3,6,7) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

Radama and his mama Cassia are just popping into your feed to wish you a happy New Year's Eve! 🎆

We hope your new year is filled with love, light, and lemurs. Tag a loved one in the comments to end their year with these adorable sifaka selfies! 🥰

📸: Sarah K. ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

What a year this has been! ✨

Our 2025 Baby Season was one of the most exciting yet! Here are some cool stats about this year's class of infants:

❤️ 17 total infants, 9 diurnal and 8 nocturnal
🧡 7 infants of critically endangered lemur species (Coquerel's sifaka, blue-eyed black lemur, mongoose lemur, red ruffed lemur)
💛 5 first-time moms
💚 8 infants named by donors through our Baby's First Year: Ultimate Adopt program
💙 The only blue-eyed black lemur infant born in human care anywhere in the world
💜 The DLC's first mongoose lemur infant since 2021

Thank you to everyone who has donated, visited, and admired these young lemurs from afar! We are excited to see what new faces 2026 brings 🥰

📸: David Haring (Arcadius, Toulouse Goose, Spock); Madison A. (Mitsiky); Sarah K. (Elisabet and mom Sophia); Sarah M. (Leonor) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

Thank you so much to our friends and lemur lovers around the world who, despite all of 2025's challenges, have helped us maintain the excellent care of our colony and commitment to our mission 💙

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/donate

There's still time to make a year-end gift to support lemur care and conservation! In a year rife with financial hurdles and federal funding cuts, it's the support of our community that allows us to continue working to save these incredible endangered primates. Learn more about the impact your gift could have at lemur.duke.edu/donate ✨

📸: David Haring (ring-tailed lemur Sprite, aye-aye Grendel, Coquerel's sifaka Remus) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of the primates at the Duke Lemur Center! ❤️

Everyone knows that a lemur's favorite gift is FOOD! Keeper Isabella boxed up the lemurs' breakfast diets in cardboard and wrapping paper to create festive puzzle feeders for the residents of D-wing. Here are some of the highlights from the celebration, featuring some very satisfied lemurs 🥰

In order: crowned lemur Ma'at, red ruffed lemur Hunter, Coquerel's sifaka Thrax, red ruffed lemur Mae, crowned lemur Sanura, red ruffed lemur Hoku, mongoose lemur Fernanda, and one more Ma'at to finish out the set 🎁

📸: Keeper Isabella ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

Can you see the lemur family resemblance? ✨

Coquerel's sifaka Radama the Great, who turns nine months old at the start of January, is the first offspring of mom Cassia (second photo) and dad Eustace (third photo). That means his grandmothers are two of our most successful sifaka mothers, Gisela and Rodelinda. Radama is also the great-grandson of Jovian aka Zoboomafoo. What a prestigious family tree! 🤩

Radama is one smart cookie, always ready and eager to participate in positive reinforcement training with his keepers. He's particularly excellent at kennel training, aka voluntarily hopping into a kennel in exchange for a nut. This will make it less stressful for him to have to travel up to our vet building for future checkups. Mom Cassia is currently working on voluntarily infant removal training, aka allowing keepers to take an infant from her stomach in exchange for a peanut. She doesn't currently have an infant, as juvenile Radama is fully independent, but practicing the steps (where to sit, what to grab onto, feeling comfortable with the tactile sensation of a keeper touching her belly) will help her learn the behavior for any future offspring 🥜

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

Our social media manager will be on holiday from 12/23 through 1/5, but they scheduled plenty of lemur photos to go up in their absence! 📸

All of your comments and DMs will get responses in the new year 🥳

In the meantime, please enjoy these sketches they left behind on their desk 📝 ... See MoreSee Less