Social Media

Duke Lemur Center

2 days ago

There’s only one thing that could make Baby Season more exciting: Now, for the first time ever, the DLC is sharing the honor of naming our newest colony members with the public! 😱

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/ultimate

With a tax-deductible donation of $20,000 to the DLC’s Animal Care Fund or General Operations Fund, YOU can name a baby lemur and receive photos and updates on the infant for one year! This limited-time program is a great opportunity for:

📈 Businesses looking to bolster morale
🏥 Medical and dental practices
🐾 Veterinary hospitals
🤝 Civic groups
😍 Individuals or families passionate about lemurs

The proceeds will go directly to our animal care programs to provide the critical support needed to maintain the excellent care of the DLC’s irreplaceable colony of lemurs 💙

Visit our website at lemur.duke.edu/ultimate to learn more about the individual infants up for naming, including personality profiles of each baby and lots of cute photos, or email us directly at adoptalemur@duke.edu to get started 🤩

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

3 days ago

Jasper inspecting plants: a series 🔎🌿

Two-year-old ring-tailed lemur Jasper lives with his mom, dad, and three siblings in a troop that spends summer days free-ranging in one of our forest enclosures. Guests often ask if we plant anything specific in the forest habitats for the lemurs to forage, and the answer is no! Lemurs like Jasper are wet-nosed primates (strepsirrhines) and are able to use their powerful sense of smell to sniff out tasty wild plants, both in Madagascar and in North Carolina. Social learning also plays a key role in knowing what plants to eat, as young lemurs will watch what their moms and older siblings snack on, sometimes going so far as to steal food right out of mom's hand 😋

You can book a visit on one of our Walking with Lemurs tours to watch the foraging in action! Visit lemur.duke.edu/wwl to learn more and reserve tickets 🤩

📸: Sara Nicholson ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

4 days ago

Red ruffed lemur Judith is just checking in to see if you've bought tickets to see her on a General Tour next week 👀

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/gt

Looking to make Memorial Day plans? We will be running an extra General Tour next week on Monday morning from 10am to noon! Just like our regular weekend morning General Tours, this tour will operate similarly to an open house, which means that guests can wander the path at their own pace and chat with the education docents stationed at each lemur enclosure. You don't have to arrive right at 10am—the tour is scheduled for a two-hour block, and occasionally guests use that full time, but the average guest spends about 45-60 minutes on the tour path 💙

We also added another General Tour next Thursday evening (5/29) from 5-7pm! Whether you spend your morning or your evening learning about these critically endangered primates, you're sure to have a great time 🥰

Note: you must purchase tickets in advance to see the lemurs! Book online at lemur.duke.edu/gt 🎟

📸: Keeper Sarah M. ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

We can't believe how quickly lemur infants grow up! 🥹

Coquerel's sifaka Arcadius, the first infant of our 2025 baby season, is already SEVEN months old! You may have met Arcadius and his family during one of our Walking with Lemurs tours as this juvenile male learns to navigate their free-ranging forest enclosure. He still has plenty of growing to do—adult sifakas average 3.3 to 4.5 kg in weight, and Arcadius currently weighs about 1.7 kg 😱

The Duke Lemur Center’s colony of Coquerel’s sifaka is the most successful breeding colony in the world of this species or any species of sifaka, and the DLC owns and manages every individual in human care. Want to contribute to the care and conservation of this critically endangered species? Visit lemur.duke.edu/donate to learn about how you can help! 🌿

📸: Sarah K. (seven-month-old Arcadius); David Haring (one-month-old Arcadius tucked into mom Gisela) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

We've got a very regal #tbt today with some crowned lemur baby photos 👑

Crowned lemurs are an endangered lemur species that live at the "crown" or northern tip of Madagascar. In the wild, crowned lemurs' small bodies and nimble jumps help them navigate the tsingy, incredibly sharp limestone formations that are difficult terrain for predators to traverse. While all crowned lemur infants are born the same gray color, males will transition to orange fur as they age, while females will remain gray with an orange "crown" marking on their foreheads 🧡

These infant and adult photos are female Aria, her younger brother Zuberi, and two of Zuberi's sons, Siwa and Nedjem. You'll often see bald patches on the foreheads of adult male crowned lemurs, as they have a scent gland there and sometimes wear down the fur as they vigorously scent mark their territories 🥰

Which crowned lemur do you think looks most like their baby picture? Let us know in the comments!

📸: David Haring (infant photos, adult Aria and Nedjem); Sara Sorraia (adult Zuberi); Sarah K. (adult Siwa) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

Get an up close and personalized look at the world of lemurs with our Behind the Scenes tour! 🤩

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/onsite-tours

The Behind the Scenes tour is a private, customizable experience for groups of 1-4 guests that involves a look "behind the curtain" at everything that goes into caring for the nearly 250 primates in our colony. Your group, along with one of our expert educators, will check out areas off-limits to most guests, including the inside of our animal housing buildings, one of our small nocturnal colony rooms, and a peek at our elusive aye-ayes. You'll spend about half of the tour meeting nocturnal primates and half with diurnal lemurs, with the option to visit one of our free-ranging forest enclosures if weather allows. This is also our most customizable tour—if you have a species you'd like to see, a topic you'd like to learn about, or a list of questions you've been dying to ask, our staff will do their best to accommodate your request and shape the tour to your group's interests 🥰

Behind the Scenes tours through the end of July can now be booked on our website! 🎟

📸: David Haring (1,4); Sarah M. (2); Abby Flyer (3) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

2 weeks ago

The Duke Lemur Center's red ruffed lemurs are out of this world! 🪐

Different lemur species living at the Duke Lemur Center have different naming themes, and both red ruffed and black and white ruffed lemurs get space names. Among these are a few lemurs named after astronauts! Here are some of our celestial namesakes:

Mae: named after Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space. Jemison is an engineer and physician who took flight on NASA's Space Shuttle "Endeavour" in 1992 🌟

Judith: named after Judith Resnik, the first Jewish woman in space. Resnik was an engineer and pilot who was aboard the maiden voyage of NASA's Space Shuttle "Discovery" in 1984 and who was part of NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first group to include women 💫

Buzz: named after Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Aldrin is an engineer and fighter pilot and was the Lunar Module "Eagle" pilot on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 🌙

Keep an eye out for these astronomical lemurs this summer! Mae and Judith both live on our summer tour path, while Buzz free-ranges in one of our natural habitat enclosures with his family 💙

📸: David Haring (Mae); Sara Nicholson (Judith); Aditya Baliga (Buzz) ... See MoreSee Less