At the Duke Lemur Center, lemurs free-range in large tracts of forest and live in natural social groups, giving researchers and visitors the opportunity to observe the same behaviors, social structures, and age classes that would be observed in the wild.
Many of these behaviors are seen in this video, including:
✅ Play
✅ Foraging
✅ Social grooming (0:07, 1:30, 3:45)
✅ Infant rearing
✅ Following the dominant female
✅ Sun worshipping (1:18, 3:20)
✅ Stink fighting (1:36)
✅ Scouting for potential danger (2:01)
✅ Curling into a family “lemur ball” to sleep
The dominant female, Sierra Mist (born 01 May 2008), wears a red tracking collar. At least one lemur from every social group wears one, which DLC staff can use to locate the animals inside their multi-acre enclosures. Usually the collar is worn by the dominant female, because the other family members stick close to her: Wherever she is, the others are bound to be close by!
Sierra Mist free-ranges with her mate Licinius (born 17 March 1993) and their offspring.
Lemurs should never be kept as pets (here’s why), but you can symbolically adopt Randy, a ring-tailed lemur living at the DLC, through our Adopt a Lemur program! Your adoption supports lemur care and conservation, plus you’ll receive updates about Randy and his family throughout the year—with lots of cute photos, of course!
