Personality pics of nine-month-old Cirilla, our tiniest ring-tailed lemur 🤩
If Cirilla had a yearbook quote, it would be Shakespeare's "Though she be but little, she is fierce!" When she was born to mom Alena back in April, she weighed a mere 37 grams—about half of the average birth weight for a ring-tailed lemur, tied for the second smallest surviving ring-tailed infant in DLC history. She spent the first three days of her life in our ICU incubator, as the tiny baby couldn't keep her head up or maintain her body temperature. Members of our veterinary and husbandry teams stayed on site overnight to position Cirilla to nurse on mom every two hours, as she wasn't able to nurse on her own. The dedication and hard work of our staff, as well as mom Alena's years of mothering experience, allowed this precious infant to survive and thrive 💖
Cirilla is still relatively tiny for her age, and it's possible that she will always be on the smaller side, but she boasts an otherwise clean bill of health from our vets and lacks neither energy nor tenacity. As Alena and Stewart's only female offspring, Cirilla ranks below only the matriarch herself in the troop's hierarchy. She spends lots of time running and jumping around her family's enclosure with her three big brothers and snacking voraciously on anything her keepers offer her. We're so lucky to have this resilient little lady in our colony! ✨
📸: David Haring
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Enjoy some lemur kale ASMR 🥬
Part of a healthy diet for the DLC’s lemur colony includes daily leafy greens, like kale or lettuce. Yesterday, Keeper Madison handed out some fresh kale to a handful of lemur families, including Coquerel’s sifakas Rodelinda, Albus, Egeria, and Johann and black-and-white ruffed lemurs Halley, Spitzer, Kepler, and Bruno. The DLC has an organic garden on site where we grow as many fresh fruits and veggies as we can, and we have an incredible team of garden volunteers who help out! The lemurs are incredibly grateful for all of the hard work that our staff and volunteers put into tending the garden 😊
🎥: Abby Flyer
📸: David Haring (cover photo) ... See MoreSee Less
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Nom, nom, nom💚Crunchy and delicious! Love this video!💚💚💚💚
I love the lemurs! ❤️
They seem to willingly share, no hoarding or fighting!💕
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Free-ranging photos of our very handsome Ferdinand 🤩
Happy early birthday to Coquerel's sifaka Ferdinand, who turns twelve years old later this month! This sweet male lives with his younger sister, Gertrude, and loves to spend warm days jumping from tree to tree in their forest enclosure. Both Ferdinand and Gertrude are offspring of the late Jovian, the lemur who played Zoboomafoo, which means Ferdinand is also the uncle of our littlest lemur, Arcadius! While he would be considered old for a wild sifaka, Ferdinand is just middle-aged when it comes to our sifaka population 💙
Have you met Ferdinand on a Walking with Lemurs tour or a Behind the Scenes tour?
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
Happy early birthday, Ferdinand. You're a handsome fellow!
Ferdinand is one good looking guy! 🥰
Ferdinand is very handsome
Looking to make someone's Valentine's Day extra special? Send them our Holiday Adoption Package 😍
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/holidayadopt
We still have a handful of limited edition adoption packages available from the 2024 winter holidays! You can support lemur care and conservation by symbolically adopting Halley, a black-and-white ruffed lemur, for someone special in your life. This package comes with a plush lemur, a wooden ornament, a copy of our official magazine, and a personalized adoption packet for your gift recipient. Updates on Halley's life will be emailed quarterly, so your gift will last all year long 💝
Your adoption fee includes a donation to support the lemurs of the DLC AND our conservation programs in Madagascar! A win-win! Order ASAP for the best chance of shipping by the 14th ✨
📸: Sara Sorraia (ruffed lemur with rose) ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Still waiting for the DLC caps to come back in stock!
Give the gift of love and lemurs this Valentine's Day 💖
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/valentine
Looking for the perfect gift for your partner, friend, family member, or to treat yourself? Make a heartwarming gift of $25 or more through the link above to order a Love and Lemurs video valentine! Every gift will go toward the Duke Lemur Center’s budget to care for our priceless colony of lemurs, Earth’s most endangered mammals. With your donation, you'll receive exclusive access to our adorable 2025 Love and Lemurs video, as well as a special message to share with your loved ones, some downloadable lemur Valentine's cards, and warm fuzzies from knowing that your tax-deductible donation helps fund the care and conservation of these incredible primates 🥰
Anyone who has given $250+ to the DLC in the past year will automatically receive a complimentary video valentine!
📸: Sara Sorraia ... See MoreSee Less
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
Christopher Pranckunas LEMUR VIDEO VALENTINE
This is such a wonderful tradition! So glad you continue doing this🩷What could be better than a Lemur Valentine!
Do I send it here or wait for my usual email? Thanks!
I don't know about you, but our lemurs have been LOVING this warmer weather 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/wwl
Come enjoy this lovely burst of spring by Walking with Lemurs in our forest enclosures this week! We've posted a few tickets for Tuesday and Friday, but we're hoping to open up additional slots this weekend if the weather cooperates. Check our website for the most up-to-date tour availability! In the meantime, enjoy some photos of Coquerel's sifakas Valeria, Eustace, and Gertrude, red ruffed lemur Buzz, and ring-tailed lemur Nikos soaking up the sun on an unseasonably warm February morning ☀️
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
Awesome.
Awesome pictures! Great place to visit
Continue to enjoy the weather while it lasts, all!
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Why are lemurs nearly extinct, and yet so diverse? 🔍
➡️ phys.org/news/2025-01-lemurs-extinct-diverse.html
In a study recently published in "Nature Ecology & Evolution," Joseph Orkin and researchers from Université de Montréal and Pompeu Fabra University sequenced the genomes of 162 lemurs from 50 species across Madagascar, by far the largest effort to sequence lemur genomes to date. The paper's authors collaborated with the Duke Lemur Center to obtain critical samples and map out where in Madagascar other samples originated. According to Orkin, "the most diverse species appear to be the ones with fragmented populations in multiple ecosystems across the island." They also identified major population declines that correspond with historical periods of human population expansion. Read more at the link above!
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
I wish they would quit taking their habitats and selling them.
Yes, I visited Madagascar last year & it’s heartbreaking about the loss of most of the natural forests over the decades. Just pockets of preserved areas for the lemurs. I understand Madagascar is a very poor country & many people there are just trying to survive without thought for the wildlife including still eating lemurs if they are found on their land. Similar to the Celebes Black Macaques in North Sulawesi where it was only 2010 where they made eating & hunting them illegal unless found in their property.
I’m trying to find your email to send you a message & ask some questions but I can’t find one. I’m in Indonesia & a friend just sent me 3 bush babies originally from a captive breeding program in Jakarta. I have downloaded all your diet recommendations & have the primate biscuits, live mealworms, fresh vegetable’s etc. They are very happy & healthy. I have a question about their weight as the former owner thinks they should remain thin for breeding. I could not find any information online about weight & pregnancy. Can you tell me or send me your email address? Kathyflood07@gmail.com Thank you!
🤩 TOMORROW 🤩
Good news: we have the weather and staffing to run an off-season General Tour this Saturday 2/1! 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 13+ and $12 per person for ages 3-12 (children 2 and under are free) 🥳
Tickets MUST be purchased in advance to attend! Tickets and information are available on our website at lemur.duke.edu/GT 🎟
📸: David ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
🤩 THIS WEEKEND 🤩
Good news: we have the weather and staffing to run off-season Walking with Lemurs tours this Friday (1/31) and Saturday (2/1)! 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/wwl ✨
📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Enjoy some #tbt photos of a few lovely ring-tailed lemur ladies 💕
Many of our lemurs have lived their whole lives at the DLC! Sierra Mist is pictured as an infant in the first photo with mom Sprite (also a current DLC resident) and as an adult in the second photo. You might know her at the amazing mother of juvenile twins Merry and Eowyn! Next up is Lilah, who was born in 2005 to mom Sosiphanes and now lives with geriatric companion Aristides. Finally, we've got baby Sophia clinging to mom Artemesia, as well as a stunning portrait of adult Sophia, who currently lives with breeding partner Randy and daughters Nemesis and Nyx 🥰
📸: David Haring (1-5); Aditya Baliga (6) ... See MoreSee Less
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Beautiful ladies❤️ love all of them.
Hello to all the lemurs and their caretakers!
I encourage anyone who can to visit these lovely guys at home in Madagascar, to do so…while they can.
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Personality pics of nine-month-old Cirilla, our tiniest ring-tailed lemur 🤩
If Cirilla had a yearbook quote, it would be Shakespeare's "Though she be but little, she is fierce!" When she was born to mom Alena back in April, she weighed a mere 37 grams—about half of the average birth weight for a ring-tailed lemur, tied for the second smallest surviving ring-tailed infant in DLC history. She spent the first three days of her life in our ICU incubator, as the tiny baby couldn't keep her head up or maintain her body temperature. Members of our veterinary and husbandry teams stayed on site overnight to position Cirilla to nurse on mom every two hours, as she wasn't able to nurse on her own. The dedication and hard work of our staff, as well as mom Alena's years of mothering experience, allowed this precious infant to survive and thrive 💖
Cirilla is still relatively tiny for her age, and it's possible that she will always be on the smaller side, but she boasts an otherwise clean bill of health from our vets and lacks neither energy nor tenacity. As Alena and Stewart's only female offspring, Cirilla ranks below only the matriarch herself in the troop's hierarchy. She spends lots of time running and jumping around her family's enclosure with her three big brothers and snacking voraciously on anything her keepers offer her. We're so lucky to have this resilient little lady in our colony! ✨
📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Fierce women running things -we can learn a lot from lemurs.
We love you , Cirilla. You're little, but mighty!
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