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It's Fritz Friday, and the last official day of fall 🍂
Did you know that lemurs are sensitive to cold temperatures? Here in North Carolina, it can get colder than it would in Madagascar, so we have to make sure we keep our furry friends warm. Most of our lemurs can only have outdoor access when the temperature is above 41ºF, so we make sure their indoor enclosures are well-equipped with blankets, branches, and plenty of enrichment to keep their minds and bodies active. Our animal housing provides each family group with plenty of outdoor and indoor space, connected by doors that we can open and close to easily modify their enclosures as the weather changes. This means that our lemurs can take advantage of North Carolina's sunny afternoons on their outdoor patios but stay snug and warm indoors during freezing nights ☀️🥶
📸: Sara Nicholson
Happy 38th birthday to our oldest resident, aye-aye Poe 🥳
Poe was born in the wild in Madagascar in 1986 and was one of the original founders of the aye-aye population in human care. This majestic gentleman is one year away from claiming the title of oldest lemur on record, as he currently sits in the #2 spot. Poe’s longevity is a testament to the fantastic care provided by the DLC’s husbandry and veterinary staff ❤️
Keeper Sarah threw a birthday celebration for our old man, featuring gift bags and wrapped presents, all of which contained a delicious combination of honey and chunky peanut butter. As you can see at the end of the video, it was truly finger licking good! 😋
Whether you’ve met Poe on one of our Behind the Scenes tours or Wild Workshops, or if you’ve admired him from afar on our social media, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating this amazing lemur. You can even send him birthday snacks from our Amazon wishlist by visiting lemur.duke.edu/wishlist ✨
[Note: since aye-ayes are nocturnal and red-green colorblind, we use red light to gently illuminate their rooms. Any light shone on the aye-ayes in this video is a red light, which was color corrected during editing]
🎥: Abby Flyer
16 CommentsComment on Facebook
Happy Birthday Poe, doing great and enjoying your Birthday Snax
Happy birthday Mr. Poe 🎉
Happy Birthday 🎉🎊🎈
Are you a lemur lover looking to take the next step in your career? Apply to join our team! 📝
➡️ careers.duke.edu and search keyword "lemur"
We are currently accepting applications for three different job openings: Education Supervisor, Primate Technician, and Intern and Volunteer Coordinator. Requirements and responsibilities vary by position, so check out the individual listings on the Duke Careers website! Whether you've previously volunteered with us, visited us, or engaged from afar, we're excited to welcome new faces into our community 🤗
📸: Gene X (2)
2 CommentsComment on Facebook
If only I were younger and didn’t live in Idaho ☹️
Awesome. Praying you find the right people.
Afternoon leaves with everyone's new favorite lil guy 🌿
Coquerel's sifakas, like two-month-old Arcadius, are folivores, or leaf-eating primates. While Arcadius still gets the majority of his nutrients nursing from mom Gisela, he's starting to snack on solid food! Baby lemurs aren't so different from baby humans—they love to explore the world by putting things in their mouths 😂
Bonus pic: a goofy mid-blink shot of big brother Silas for #TongueOutTuesday 😜
📸: David Haring
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
Arcadius, you gorgeous little man!🩷🩷
Such a proud mama!! Baby is thriving!! Yeah!!
Silas’ pic sums up my mood for today!💕
One more Licinius photo today so that our old man can show off his painting skills 🎨
➡️ shop.duke.edu/specialties/duke-shoppes/lemur
Looking for a last minute holiday gift? Our one-of-a-kind lemur paintings are available through our Duke Stores shop! Choose from three different sizes and receive an original masterpiece, a photo of your artist, a gallery-style ID tag, and an info sheet on the artist’s species. Licinius had a great time painting this morning to make sure we have enough works of art to go around 🥰
You can purchase art online or by visiting our gift shop in person! We no longer do orders over the phone, so if you’re not in the Durham area, head over to our online store to place your order. Be sure to order ASAP for the best chance of receiving your paintings before the holidays! 🎁
📸: Sarah K.
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
Oh my gosh!! I need one of these ... are they all originals ??
How do lemurs print with their tails? And learn to paint? Do they watch other lemurs for ideas?
Very good artistic skills
Is there anything more precious than an old man enjoying a slice of cantaloupe 🥹
At 31 years old, ring-tailed lemur Licinius is one of the Duke Lemur Center's oldest residents. Despite his age, Licinius hasn't lost his spunk! When he's not cuddling with partner Sierra Mist and nine-month-old offspring Merry and Eowyn, Licinius enjoys sprawling out in the sun and scent marking on everything in his enclosure. He gets separated from the rest of the family for meals so that he has plenty of time to enjoy his fruit and veggies without his groupmates swooping in to steal his snacks. We love our geriatric residents! 🧡
Have you met Licinius on a tour or purchased one of his paintings? Show some love for our old man in the comments!
📸: David Haring
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
I miss my favorite old man so much (my grandpa passed away at 83 this July). Old men are the best be they human or lemur ❤️
So nice of you folks to let the old poor dude have some peace and quiet at meal time!😂💚
The finger licking! He's clearly loving his melon 🥰
A new member of Zoboomafoo's family has arrived, just in time for the holidays 😍
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/arcadius
On October 16, 2024, Coquerel's sifaka Gisela gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Gisela is the daughter of Jovian, the famous sifaka who played Zoboomafoo in the eponymous TV show, making Arcadius his newest grandson! 🎉
Arcadius is Gisela's sixth offspring with breeding partner Rupert. He was born at a fairly standard 101 grams—about the weight of a deck of playing cards—and was strong and vocal from his first infant wellness exam. Like many of our Coquerel's sifakas, Arcadius is named after a Roman emperor. In addition to mom and dad, Arcadius also lives with older brother Silas 💙
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/adopt
Want to stay up to date on Arcadius and family AND support lemur care and conservation? You can symbolically adopt Arcadius's mom, Gisela, through our Adopt a Lemur program! Adoptees will receive quarterly updates on mom and baby, plus lots of adorable photos 🥰
📸: David Haring
33 CommentsComment on Facebook
Is Jovian a great-grandpa? 😊
Dominique Boudrias jsais pas si tu peux traduire check ça
Congratulations Gisela! Your baby is so beautiful 😍
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who supported us this past #GivingTuesday! ☺️
Items from our wishlist are still arriving day by day! So far, we've raised over $1000 in wishlist items. While Amazon no longer allows us to send thank you notes in response, we wanted to make sure everyone knew how grateful we are. Our staff are feeling the love from our worldwide community of lemur lovers, and your support is truly crucial in allowing us to care for these critically endangered primates 💙
➡️ gifts.duke.edu/lemur
You can still support us by making a TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation to the Duke Lemur Center before the end of the year! We're a nonprofit organization, and we raise nearly half of our annual budget from donations, grants, and revenues from fees, tours, and merchandise sales. Donate at the link above, or learn more at lemur.duke.edu/donate ✨
📸: David Haring (lemur photo)
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Celebrating Friday the 13th with our spookiest residents 👻
Aye-ayes Fady, Binx, and Grendel love their daily worm feeders! To simulate the percussive foraging that aye-ayes would do in the wild, we fill hollow blocks of wood with live worms for the aye-ayes to find and eat. Aye-ayes tap rapidly on the wood and use their incredible hearing to locate their food, and then they utilize their strong incisors to chew a hole in the block just large enough for them to reach in and scoop out their favorite bugs. 9-year-old Fady and 14-year-old Grendel are the parents of big boy Binx, who will turn 3 this upcoming January 🤗🪱
📸: David Haring
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
We live in the UK and my daughters favourite animal is the aye aye, it's so difficult to find adopt an aye aye in the UK!
They are so clever!
They are so 😍
Our halls have been decked and our gift shop has been stocked for holiday shopping! ✨
We have some BRAND NEW silk cocoon ornaments, featuring a wider variety of lemur species! These ornaments from @tananasilk are hand-crafted in Madagascar from sustainably sourced raw materials, and the artisans and farmers use sustainable farming and harvesting practices to preserve their surrounding rainforest. Supplies are limited, so be sure to stop by our gift shop to get your holiday shopping done! 🎁
Most of these designs are only available in person, but the ring-tailed lemur silk cocoon ornament is available for purchase through Duke Stores! Visit lemur.duke.edu/merch if you’re not able to stop by our gift shop 😊
Just a heads up: we are closed to the public (including our gift shop) from 12/23-12/26 as our staff celebrate the holidays. Be sure to check lemur.duke.edu/hours for our holiday closures before heading over to shop 💙
📸: Abby Flyer
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
I wondered about that when we were there.
They are so beautiful. 🥰🥰🥰
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