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We're excited to announce the birth of another ring-tailed lemur infant! 😍
On May 29, experienced mom Sierra Mist gave birth to a healthy baby boy! This infant joins a close-knit family of five with mom, dad Licinius, and older brother and sister Merry and Eowyn. Two-year-old Eowyn has been particularly interested in her new baby brother, spending lots of time cuddling up with mom and grooming the baby—a great sign that she will be a good mother in the future! 💕
At 33 years old, dad Licinius (photo 4) is the oldest diurnal lemur currently living at the Duke Lemur Center. While ring-tailed lemur dads are not generally hands-on with their offspring, Licinius is a good sport when the baby jumps on his head and pulls on his tail 😝
Through 8/27/26, Sierra Mist’s infant will be available for an Ultimate Adoption! With a new tax-deductible donation of $20,000, which you can opt to pay half now and half in the next year, will allow you the honor of helping the DLC to choose the name for this infant. Interested? Learn more on our website at lemur.duke.edu/adopt/ultimate ✨
📸: David Haring (1, 5-9); Sarah M. (2); Bracy H. (3,4)
We asked our keepers to send over some of their favorite pics they've taken of the animals they work with... here's part two! 🥰
Let us know in the comments which photo stole your heart 💖
Happy #KeeperAppreciationWeek! 🥳
📸: Keepers Becca N. (1); Kate O. (2,7); Madison A. (3); Bracy H. (4,9); Isabella L. (5); Sarah K. (6); Lauren K. (8); Sarah M. (10) #NZKW2026
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We asked our keepers to send over some of their favorite pics they've taken of the animals they work with... here are just a small sample of the results ☺️
The DLC currently houses twelve different primate species, all with varying husbandry needs. Our keepers provide specialized care to all 250 residents on both the species and individualized level. From enrichment to diet to positive reinforcement training, it takes a village to ensure the highest level of animal wellbeing for our colony 💙
Happy #KeeperAppreciationWeek, and stay tuned for a part 2! 🥳
📸: Keepers Sarah K. (1,6); Sarah M. (2,3); Leah H. (4); Bracy H. (5); Lizzie L. (7); Isabella L. (8) #NZKW2026
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Happy #KeeperAppreciationWeek to our colleagues across the ocean at Parc Ivoloina! 🌍
On behalf of everyone at the Duke Lemur Center, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the dedicated zoo keepers at Parc Ivoloina during #NationalZookeeperWeek. Your unwavering commitment to the animals in your care, especially in the face of cyclone Gezani and its challenges, is truly inspiring. Your resilience, compassion, and hard work make a lasting difference every day, not only for Madagascar's incredible lemurs, but also for the future of conservation. Thank you for all that you do. We are proud to work alongside you in protecting these remarkable species ❤️
📸: Sara Sorraia (2)
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Keeper Sarah K. shares her love letter to lemurs 💙
"Because #NationalZookeeperWeek always makes me emotional about how much they've given to me and how I'll spend my whole career trying to give even just a fraction of that back to them... This is more than a job to those who do it, it's a lifeline to what's most important: making the world a better place for animals" 🥰
🎥: Sarah K. #NZKW2026 #KeeperAppreciationWeek
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Help us help Durham during the ongoing drought 💙
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If you don't live locally, you may not be aware that Durham is currently in an exceptional drought, which is the most severe of the five classifications determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor. So far, this is the second driest year to date over Durham's past 132 years, with over 200k residents affected 💧
We're working to do our part to help our community by reducing our water usage. Of course, the lemurs will still have plenty of water to drink, but alternative methods of watering our food forest (a major source of fresh fruit and veggies in the lemurs' daily diets) can help conserve water. We've added dehumidifiers to our Amazon wishlist with the hope that we can capture excess water from the air to use for our plants while also helping to keep our buildings cool and dry during the summer heat 🌿
You can help us help our community by purchasing dehumidifiers from our wishlist, and you can learn more about the ongoing drought and the communities affected at drought.gov 🤗
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Happy #KeeperAppreciationWeek to our incredible husbandry team! 🥳
It's no small job to care for the approximately 250 lemurs who call the Duke Lemur Center home. Being a keeper requires hard work, passion, and a desire to provide the highest quality of care to the animals, and we are lucky to have fourteen keepers and four lead technicians working under the leadership of our Curatorial Team to ensure that the DLC's resident lemurs remain happy, healthy, and safe, 365 days a year 💙
Keep an eye out for more posts this week celebrating our amazing keepers, and share some love in the comments!!!
📸: Jake Kennedy (1-3) #NationalZookeeperWeek #NZKW2026
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Blue-eyed black lemurs Leigh, Lincoln, and McAvoy enjoy a beautiful day in the forest 🌿
Three-year-old McAvoy is the son of nine-year-old Leigh and ten-year-old Lincoln. Blue-eyed black lemurs are sexually dichromatic; while the boys are black with blue eyes, dominant female Leigh sports a lovely orange-brown coat. These stunning lemurs are one of only four primate species with blue eyes (including us!) 💙
Like nearly one third of lemur species, blue-eyed black lemurs are critically endangered. When McAvoy was born in 2023, he was one of only two blue-eyed black lemur infants across North America. Last year, female infant Mitsiky (born to Leigh's niece, Charlie) was the only blue-eyed black lemur infant in human care anywhere in the world. This year, the DLC has celebrated two successful infants of this species: Mitsiky's little sister, Zava, and Leigh's first granddaughter, Lanitra (born to her older son, Brady, and mate Malala). Through collaboration with accredited zoos and conservation facilities around the globe, the DLC is working to protect these incredibly rare primates from extinction 🌍
📸: Sara Nicholson
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Beautiful portraits of aye-ayes Medusa and Melisandre 💕
While most lemurs (and primates in general) have nails, aye-ayes have claws! The only claws that most lemurs possess are their grooming claws, found on the index toe of each back foot. Aye-ayes, however, have claws on all but their big toes of their back feet, and those claws aid in their unique percussive foraging 🤗
Curious about the difference between nails and claws? Nails are broad and flat, and they only cover the tops of fingers, while claws are long and narrow, ending at a point and extending beyond the fingertips. Both nails and claws are made of keratin, a tough protein also found in horns and hair. Our primate ancestors likely evolved nails to improve grip and sensitivity when climbing trees! 🖐️
📸: David Haring
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Francesca + Junius = <3
Coquerel's sifaka Junius has changed a lot over the past year, but one thing that has stayed the same is his bond with mom Francesca. Now nine months old, Junius still enjoys sharing snacks and cuddling up with his mama, despite the fact that he's almost as big as her! We're so proud of first-time mom Francesca for how wonderfully she and mate Remus have raised their firecracker of a son into a healthy, energetic young adult 🥰
Little lemurs like Junius aren't just cute—they're a crucial part of the DLC's conservation breeding program, which has celebrated over 3,400 births since the DLC was founded in 1966. Together, Coquerel's sifakas at the DLC and other institutions worldwide form a genetic safety net for this critically endangered species. Each new birth helps sustain a healthy and genetically diverse population of Coquerel's sifakas for the long-term future 💙
🎥: Keeper Sarah M.
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