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Coquerel's sifakas Eustace and Cassia take their relationship to new heights 🌿
While lemurs don't have prehensile (grasping) tails, they have powerful grips with their hands and feet! Like Eustace demonstrates in these photos, sifakas often dangle from their back feet while foraging in the trees, leaving their front hands free to grab leaves and pull branches toward their mouths 🙃
📸: Sara Nicholson
Enjoy some throwback photos of ruffed lemurs Buzz and Halley 😍
Happy Duke Reunion Weekend! Just like the Duke alums visiting Durham this weekend, we wanted to take the opportunity to reminisce. You may know red ruffed lemur Buzz from our Walking with Lemurs tours, and Halley's symbolic adopters might recognize this lovely black and white ruffed female as the ruffed lemur representative for our Adopt a Lemur program 💙
To all of the alums who booked tickets on our reunion weekend tours: we can't wait to see you! 🤩
📸: David Haring
7 CommentsComment on Facebook
Are you and my lemur friends in the path of the fires? Been worried about you all!
So cute!!
Hi to Buzz and Halley!
Jujube trees? Yes, please! 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/jujube
We're excited to announce that we've added four special tree saplings to our food forest—jujube trees! Because jujube trees are low maintenance and don’t require pesticides or other chemical treatments, they are ideal for our ‘food forest’ organic garden. These saplings are expensive and well beyond our budget, but with help from DLC supporter Marilyn Grolitzer, Karen DiDonato from local business Nurtured by Nature Growers, and Janet at Edible Landscaping in Afton, Virginia, we were able to add four jujube trees to our growing food forest. As an animal lover, Janet enthusiastically agreed to donate the saplings, and Karen and her husband Chris helped transport the trees from Afton to Durham. We can't wait to see the lemurs enjoy the results of this wonderful collaboration! Visit our website at the link above to read more 🌱🍒
You, too, can help support the care and conservation of lemurs by making a donation to the Duke Lemur Center! Visit gifts.duke.edu/lemur to make your tax-deductible donation today 🤗
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
These folks deserve a big round of applause!! So cool!💚👏💚
Thank you all for your generosity!
I thought the man on the left was that celebrity from Big Lebowski lol
Leaping into the week with Coquerel's sifaka Gertrude ✨
Coquerel's sifakas, one of the critically endangered lemur species living at the Duke Lemur Center, move through the forest quite differently than most other species. They utilize a form of locomotion called "vertical clinging and leaping" when jumping from tree to tree, in which their bodies remain vertical but they can leap up to 30 feet horizontally. Sifakas have evolved splayed-out hips to aid in this special locomotion, which in turn makes quadrupedal walking (aka the way a ring-tailed lemur moves) very difficult. This anatomy is the cause for Zoboomafoo's signature bipedal hopping, which his daughter Gertrude demonstrates in these photos 🤩
📸: Sara Nicholson
14 CommentsComment on Facebook
Mila miaro tsika fa izy kara olo iany mafnartra
Why a precious gift of Mother of Nature
What fantastic movement!
'Tis the season for fresh redbud 🌸
Whether they're out in the forest or nice and cozy in their indoor enclosures, lemurs love snacking on flowers! Now that redbud has begun to bloom, Keeper Sarah M. went out and cut fresh browse for the lemurs to enjoy. Featured in these pics are collared lemur Bijou, crowned lemur Hapi, Coquerel's sifaka Remus, and red ruffed lemur Hunter. While different lemur species have different diets, redbud is a favorite for almost all of the DLC's residents 🥰
📸: Sarah M.
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
Kudos to who ever takes the pics for this site💕 Excellent work, especially the closeups!
The buds, flowers, and seed pods of redbud are edible for humans too. I love that the lemurs get to enjoy this tasty treat!
🤩 THIS WEEKEND 🤩
Good news: we have the weather and staffing to run an off-season General Tour this Saturday 3/22! 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 (3/22) and Sunday (3/23) at 12:30pm! Tickets are limited, so make sure to grab them before they sell out. Just like during the summer, our Walking with Lemurs tours are $85 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; Sara Nicholson
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Hope everyone has fun.
Baby season means birthday season, and our keepers love an excuse to make extra tasty enrichment for the animals! 🥳
Most diurnal lemurs at the DLC are born in March and April, so we've had lots of birthdays to celebrate in the past week. Featured in these photos are:
💙 blue-eyed black lemurs Hamill and Gellar, a breeding pair who were born just a few days apart in the same year, snacking on sweet birthday treats made of oatmeal, blueberry, and gelatin, topped with blueberry jam
💜 Licinius, the current oldest diurnal lemur at the DLC, who enjoyed a similar blueberry oatmeal cake but was mostly interested in licking the blueberry jam off the top
💛💛 ring-tailed lemur twins Merry and Eowyn, whose keeper threw them a Lord of the Rings themed first birthday complete with a birthday banner and a hobbit hole structural enrichment, eating a cake made of primate biscuits, banana, and maple syrup with a blueberry topping
🧡 Jones, who shares the same birthday as his mom Sprite and received a cake made of peanut butter powder, banana, and oat flour topped with grapes, blueberries, and fresh redbud flowers
You can help our keepers continue to make birthday season special by donating snacks and enrichment items from our wishlist!
www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/373AW0NFW38GY/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1
📸&🎂: Keepers Sarah M. and Sarah K.
11 CommentsComment on Facebook
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of these incredibly beautiful and wonderful sweeties!!🩷🩷🎉🎂⭐️🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷
Happy, Happy birthday!!
I did! 😍
Get ready for March Madness with Duke Lemur Center merchandise! 🏀
shop.duke.edu/specialties/duke-shoppes/lemur
Looking for something to wear while you cheer on the Blue Devils during the tournament? Need to stay hydrated so you can scream for your team? Check out these items, and many more, on our official merch store 🤩
Plus, if you order today, shipping is free!
March Madness? More like Merch Madness!
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
Short only comes in sm and xsm??? I need womens xlarge
Wearing that shirt right now!💜
. . . Leaping Lemurs!!! March Madness Lemurs!!! . . . . Blessèd be the Orange Orb. There is One Coach and his name is Coach K, and Jon Scheyer is his disciple, and the Duke Blue Devils are their instrument. Woe to the unbelievers — especially Tar Heel fans . . . LET'S GO DEVILS!!!
NEW RESEARCH: Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs slow down cellular aging during hibernation 😱
phys.org/news/2025-03-hibernating-lemurs-clock-cellular-aging.html
Researchers at Duke and UC San Francisco recently published a new study in "Biology Letters" showing that fat-tailed dwarf lemurs' telomeres (tiny caps on chromosomes) temporarily lengthen during torpor. A similar phenomenon has been observed in humans who endured stressful situations, such as spending a year aboard the International Space Station or living for months underwater. While we don't yet know exactly how these incredible animals extend their telomeres, this finding might help explain why dwarf lemurs live up to twice as long as similarly-sized primates. Read more at the link above!
📸: David Haring
28 CommentsComment on Facebook
DON'T LIKE ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION. WITH AI YOU WOULD THINK THERE WOULD BE A BETTER WAY
What cute little fingers.
😗
So excited to see news outlets sharing Majorian's birth announcement! For critically endangered species like Coquerel's sifakas, infants aren't just cute—they're crucial. Lemurs like Majorian help establish a genetic safety net in human care to prevent this incredible species from going extinct 💙
www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/373AW0NFW38GY/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1
You can contribute to the care and conservation of the world's most endangered mammals by donating items from our wishlist! High-protein food items like nuts, nut butters, and beans help new moms like Lupicina keep up their strength while little ones are nursing and growing 🥰
youtu.be/XWxWeZHcgdA?si=gCJ5hwYKralMw1ic
2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Marjorie is beautiful. 🥰🥰
Aww What cutie pies
2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Awesome.
"We are practicing for our auditioning soon for the new Le Cirque de Soleil lemur style" 🥰🫠