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The time is now
Lemurs are the most endangered mammals on Earth
about
Duke Lemur Center
Founded in 1966 on the campus of Duke University in Durham, NC, the Duke Lemur Center is a world leader in the study, care, and protection of lemurs—Earth’s most threatened group of mammals.
With more than 200 animals across 13 species, the DLC houses the world’s most diverse population of lemurs outside their native Madagascar.
Our Mission
To advance science, scholarship, and biological conservation through non-invasive research, community-based conservation, and public outreach and education.
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Happy 21st birthday to aye-aye Medusa 🥳
Medusa was born to parents Ozma and Mephistopheles on this day in 2003! To celebrate, Keeper Lizzie made this gorgeous gal a special snack—coconut butter, peanut butter, strawberry banana baby food, and honey, all rolled up together in cardboard. Watch Medusa use her specialized incisors and tapping finger to enjoy her birthday treat! 🎉
A few fun facts about Medusa to celebrate her special day: she’s the fourth oldest aye-aye currently living at the DLC, she’s had three offspring over the course of her life (including current DLC resident Agatha), and soft boiled eggs are one of her favorite foods 🩷
🎥: Abby Flyer ... See MoreSee Less
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
Happy birthday, Medusa!! You are so beautiful 🎈🎈🎈
Happy Medusa day 🎂 🎉 💐 happy birthday special Aye aye xx
I love that I share a planet with aye-ayes. Happy birthday Medusa!!
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Meet the residents of Natural Habitat Enclosure 1! 👋
Ring-tailed lemurs Fritz and Narcissa and Coquerel's sifakas Ferdinand and Gertrude are the four lemurs who spend their days out in NHE 1, a fenced-in section of forest that spans about an acre. Since lemurs are incredibly territorial, we can't send two groups of the same species out to free-range in the same enclosure. We try to pair species that utilize different vertical space in the forest—while ring-tailed lemurs are our most terrestrial species, sifakas spend the majority of their time in the trees, meaning that the two groups are rarely competing for space. For the most part, these pairs don't interact across species, but staff members will occasionally spot Gertrude making a play face at the ring-tails, or Fritz stink-fighting towards the sifakas 🍃
Fun fact: most of these individuals have famous fathers! Gertrude and Ferdinand's dad, Jovian, was the Coquerel's sifaka who played the titular Zoboomafoo, and Narcissa's dad is the ring-tail representative for our Adopt a Lemur program, Randy 😱
📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
Such a lovely place for them all to play in!
Can lemurs eat rambutan?
Cuties
Did you know that World Lemur Day is coming up on October 25th? 😱
Whether you live locally or halfway around the world, you can celebrate World Lemur Day with your favorite prosimians by purchasing merch from our online shop! We have a fantastic selection of some of our best-selling items available for purchase through Duke Stores, including these adorable shirts, crewnecks, tank tops, onesies, ornaments, and plushes. Of course, you can always stop by our Lemur Landing Gift Shop and purchase these and other items in person! 🛒
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/onlineshop or stop by in person from 10am-4pm, six days a week (we are closed on Tuesdays)
📸: Abby Flyer ... See MoreSee Less
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
The only way I know Lemur Day is approaching is by watching the episode "Happy Lemur Day"
I like how you took the photos outdoors!
Dwain would be happy to know he was born on World Lemur Day!
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🤩 THIS WEEKEND 🤩
Good news: we have the weather and staffing to run an off-season General Tour this Sunday 10/13! Like our summer General Tours, this tour is an open house format, and guests can arrive any time before 11:30am to walk around and see the lemurs. Because the lemurs' housing needs may mildly affect their visibility to guests, we are offering a discounted off-season rate of $15 per person for ages 18+ and $12 per person for ages 3-17 (children 2 and under are free) 🥳
We are also able to run off-season Walking with Lemurs tours this Saturday (10/12), Sunday (10/13), and Monday (10/14) at 10:30am! Tickets are limited, so make sure to grab them before they sell out. Just like during the summer, our Walking with Lemurs tours are $75 per person and open to guests ages 10+ 🤗
Tickets MUST be purchased in advance to attend! Tickets and information are available on our website at lemur.duke.edu/GT for the General Tour and lemur.duke.edu/wwl for the Walking with Lemurs tour 🎟
📸: David Haring (bush baby Kito), Sara Nicholson (ring-tailed lemur Lulu) ... See MoreSee Less
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
AJ Breault if we lived there!
Dakota Clifton Speas
Andrea Breault Julia Justine Speas Order here👇👇❣️ beeftees.shop/20241013-010523
Blue-eyed black lemur Brady is a fiend for persimmons 😋🍊
This handsome four-year-old male enjoyed these fresh fruits so much that he had to hold one in each hand! Brady is a perfect example of how blue-eyed black lemurs earned their species name, with his jet-black fur and the bluest eyes at the DLC. Brady, named after blue-eyed quarterback Tom Brady, lives with breeding partner Malala and can often be found cuddled up with her on a shelf in their enclosure 💙
📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less
24 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thank you DLC Team --- these images are fabulous!
Brady has good taste in persimmons! I love them also.
My adopted son. Such a handsome youngster.
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On today's new episode of Aye-Aye Pod, it's time to get fossilized! 🎙
The fossil record of Madagascar is incredible. There are unicorn-horned meat-eating dinosaurs, colossal flightless birds, and lemurs the size of gorillas. Dr. Noromamy Rahanaharivao is a paleontologist in Madagascar who is excavating her country’s past biodiversity. She’s done research on monkey-like Archaeolemur and has searched flooded caves of Tsimanampetsotsa National Park for the remains of Pachylemur, a giant relative of ruffed lemurs. Join Dr. Rahanaharivao as she tells hosts Megan McGrath (DLC Education Programs Manager) and Matt Borths (DLC Museum of Natural History Curator) about her first fossil discoveries and why we think these incredible creatures went extinct in the last couple of centuries 💀
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Catch up on the Duke Lemur Center's official podcast, Aye-Aye Pod! 🎙
In case you missed it last week, hosts Megan McGrath (DLC Education Programs Manager) and Matt Borths (DLC Museum of Natural History Curator) interviewed Camille Desisto, an ecologist and graduate student at Duke University who studies the interactions between plants and lemurs in Madagascar and at the Duke Lemur Center. Forests are complicated places, and the species inhabiting forests are dependent on each other in a complex network that we call ecology. Camille looks at the lemur role of seed disperser—eating fruit and leaving behind seeds throughout the forest. She is interested in the mechanics of seed dispersal and how changes in lemur populations can impact the whole forest community. Learn how she works with conservation organizations, especially the DLC-SAVA Conservation program, to connect her research to conservation practices and policy 🌱
Aye-Aye Pod is available for listening on all major podcasting platforms, as well as at lemur.duke.edu/about/aye-aye-pod, and new episodes will drop each Wednesday! 🎧
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentComment on Facebook
❤️❤️
Looking for the perfect Halloween costume? We've got you covered! 🎃
Dress up like Jasper (or your favorite ring-tailed lemur) this year with our new merchandise! Whether you're looking to trick or treat in your neighborhood or stay out late partying, you'll be comfortable all night long with a fluffy clip-on tail and either a plush mask or a fuzzy headband 🤗
All of these items can be purchased IN PERSON at our Lemur Landing Gift Shop! Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to ship these items at this time. Our gift shop hours, which are also listed on Google, are 10am-4pm, six days a week (we are closed on Tuesdays). Tag us in your photos to show off your new lemur gear! 📸 ... See MoreSee Less
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
SO CUTE!! I wish I weren't so far away ...
Our little Lemur circa Halloween 2023
Will the gift shop be open on Monday (with it being a holiday)?
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Happy #MadagascarMonday! Here's a photo of our international team studying landscape restoration efforts all over Madagascar, courtesy of a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation 🌍
Our team was awarded a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to evaluate forest restoration effectiveness. With colleagues including Dr. Dominic Martin from Switzerland and Dr. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo from Madagascar, we will investigate how well restoration projects are meeting the needs of diverse stakeholders. Together with all relevant actors, we’ll co-design restoration initiatives that have the best chances for long-term success. We’ll soon be joined by a new Malagasy postdoctoral fellow to lead the project in SAVA 📝
To learn more about our conservation projects, visit lemur.duke.edu/conservation or keep an eye out for the next #MadagascarMonday update 💚 ... See MoreSee Less
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Beautyberry and Tea Olive, now vs two months ago 🥹
These gray mouse lemur twins were born to mom Merriweather at the beginning of August, and they've grown so much over the past two months! While mouse lemurs are born weighing under 10 grams (about the weight of a wedding ring), they reach their adult weight of around 60 grams (about the weight of a stick of butter) by just four months old. The family's primary caretaker, Keeper Jodi, helped organize a photo session to capture these pics of the flower girls with their namesake plants, beautyberries and tea olive leaves 🍇🌿
📸: David Haring (1,2); Jodi S. (3—the blue dot on one infant's head helps keepers tell the twins apart) ... See MoreSee Less
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
They are so beautiful!
So tiny , so sweet !! ❤️
Kelly Burnett Karen Semper Duke Lemur Center. Order From here👇👇👇https://limited-cloths.shop/20241006-190612
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