The time is now

Duke Lemur Center

2 hours ago

Deep within the heart of the Duke Lemur Center’s vast campus, you’ll find a small patch of land speckled with fruit trees and vegetables 🫐

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/where-hope-takes-root

This is the secret garden known as “Charlie’s Food Forest,” named after Charlie Welch, who led conversation programs for the Lemur Center for 35 years before retiring in 2024. It is a playground of pawpaws, blueberries, corn, beans and, among other circulating crops, sumac—the leafy green snack of choice for many lemurs 🌿

Every week Welch, Lemur Center staff, and a dozen or so volunteers spread out among the planted beds to harvest organic goodies to supplement the diets of the center’s more than 200 resident primates 🫘

“There are really beautiful things that come out of it,” says Sheri Taylor, a Lemur Center staff specialist and horticulturalist, who leads the volunteers into the food forest each week. “We are out here sweating in 100-degree weather, in almost freezing temperatures. But we start talking about our lives and find that common ground with people who we otherwise wouldn’t necessarily have met. I leave feeling like, ‘OK, I’m ready. I’m energized.’” 🤗

Read more on our website at lemur.duke.edu/where-hope-takes-root ✨ ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 day ago

"Pose for the camera!" vs "Now let's take a silly one!" 📸

Can you believe that Coquerel's sifaka Arcadius is turning two in just a few months? This playful young adult free-ranges in the forest with mom Gisela, big brother Silas, and baby sister Pomona. While Silas helps mom keep a close eye on the five-month-old infant, Arcadius is far more focused on entertaining himself, leaping energetically from tree to tree and dangling upside down while nibbling on fresh leaves. In the second photo, Arcadius demonstrates a sifaka "play face," an invitation for his siblings (or mom!) to initiate play wrestling or chasing 😆

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/adopt

Want to keep up with Arcadius and his family? You can symbolically adopt mom Gisela through our Adopt a Lemur program! Adopters get quarterly updates on the family, as well as access to adopter-exclusive materials, printable photos, and more! All purchases contribute to the care and conservation of lemurs, so it makes the perfect gift to yourself or a loved one 💙

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 days ago

Some beautiful photos of the honeybee queen herself, Melissa 🐝

Now that Liesl's twins are four months old, they're growing into their own distinct personalities! Melissa is definitely the adventurous twin. Not only does she spend more time exploring on her own than twin brother Karl, but she also seeks out more interaction with big sister Hedwig and dad Schwepps. Melissa's current favorite activity is picking things up in her mouth and running around with them! 🥰

Lemurs are female dominant, and Liesl is a fantastic matriarch, mom, and troop leader. Little lemurs learn primarily by observing the adults in their lives, so we hope Melissa will grow up to be a strong, confident leader just like her momma 💕

📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 days ago

This is a Karl appreciation post 🤩

Ring-tailed lemur Liesl's infants are now four months old, and the honeybee twins are starting to develop more distinct personalities as they grow up! Karl is a big momma's boy—if you see Liesl with only one infant, it's usually Karl. That doesn't stop him from playfully chasing his sister from tree to tree and exploring all of the interesting foliage in his family's forest habitat! You can tell the twins apart from one another thanks to a tail shave, aka a small shaved section of fur on Karl's tail (visible in the second photo), which is just as harmless as a haircut and allows our staff to quickly distinguish him from twin sister Melissa 💖

You'll also notice that momma Liesl is now wearing a collar! This is a radio tracking collar that allows our staff to locate her and her troop in their 16-acre forest enclosure. New moms don't wear collars to prevent tiny hands and heads from getting stuck, but the twins are too big for that to be an issue now 🐝🐝

📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

5 days ago

We’re so excited to announce our SECOND critically endangered blue-eyed black lemur infant of the year, born to first-time parents Malala and Brady... Meet Lanitra! 🤩

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/lanitra

Not only does Lanitra look like a twin of mom Malala, but the two share a birthday: April 1st! When choosing a name for Malala and Brady’s daughter, Keeper Megan (the family's primary caretaker) wanted to honor another exciting event that happened on April 1, 2026—the launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission. Lanitra (“lah-NEE-trah”) is the Malagasy word for sky, which also suits the infant’s sky-blue eyes 💙

Blue-eyed black lemurs are among the most endangered primate species in the world, with possibly fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild, so maintaining a genetically diverse population of these lemurs in human care is a crucial safety net. Last year, DLC resident Mitsiky was the only blue-eyed black lemur infant in human care, in any facility around the world. This year, having not one but two infants of this critically endangered species born in our care is an important step in preventing these incredible animals from going extinct 🌍

We don't have any photos of Lanitra with dad Brady yet, as Malala has been very protective of her infant and Brady has respectfully kept his distance. We can't wait to see the whole family interact more as Lanitra grows more independent and curious about the world around her! 😍

📸: Megan Chapman, Sarah M., Britt Keith ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

Photos from OLLI at Duke's post ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

The family that plays together stays together 💖

Rodelinda, Johann, and their three offspring (Egeria, Albus, and Aurelius) are far and away one of the Duke Lemur Center's most playful families. This troop of Coquerel's sifakas is constantly engaged in wrestling bouts or spirited chases through the bamboo forest. Albus is best known as the DLC's resident class clown, but that's just what happens when you grow up in a goofy family 😝

Did you know that the DLC's colony of Coquerel's sifakas in the most successful breeding colony in the world of this species or any species of sifaka? The DLC owns and manages every member of this critically endangered species in human care outside of Madagascar. We've been successful enough with our conservation breeding program to send Coquerel's sifakas to other AZA-accredited institutions, and many of these facilities have seen their own breeding success based on DLC husbandry guidelines. If you visit a Coquerel's sifaka at a zoo near you, they're almost certainly related to the sifakas living in our colony! 🤗

📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less