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There are still spots available for this fall's Forever Learning Weekend 🤩
rsvp.duke.edu/event/a4ff0fea-d513-4864-974d-d3812299c80e/summary
Immerse yourself in a weekend of exploration and discovery! During Forever Learning Weekend (October 3-5), participants will have the unique opportunity to engage with the research conducted by the DLC faculty and staff. These experts will lead you in up-close lemur encounters, seminars, and demonstrations, where you can actively participate in discussions on lemur welfare, veterinary care, conservation, and the DLC's research and science in Durham and Madagascar. This is your chance to unleash your inner scientist at an unforgettable weekend. While this event is organized by the Duke Alumni Association, you do not need to be a Duke alum to attend! 💙
Black-and-white ruffed lemur Bruno snacks on assorted flora in his forest enclosure 😋
Bruno was born at the Albuquerque Biological Park in 2016 and traveled to the DLC in late 2022 on a breeding recommendation with female Halley. Since joining the colony, Bruno and Halley have had one litter of twins together: two-year-old Kepler and Spitzer. Unlike most diurnal lemur species, ruffed lemurs can have litters as large as six infants and frequently give birth to twins and triplets. While most diurnal lemur infants cling to their mothers until they can jump from tree to tree on their own, ruffed lemurs leave their babies in nests while mom goes out foraging for food! ❤️
📸: Sara Sorraia
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
So nice to get information and pictures. I have been following forvoverv10 years and love this place. 🥰🥰
So sweet ❤️❤️❤️
Happy #TongueOutTuesday from new mates Athena and Ferdinand 😝
After their picture-perfect introductions a couple of weeks ago, the relationship between Athena (left) and Ferdinand (right) has only continued to blossom! The pair of Coquerel's sifakas enjoy cuddling together, grooming one another, and sharing morning mimosa leaves on a sunny summer day ☀️
And yes, Ferdinand is the son of Jovian aka Zoboomafoo 😉
📸: David Haring
8 CommentsComment on Facebook
Inside the Artist’s Studio: Ring-tailed lemurs Berisades and Persephone 🎨
➡️ shop.duke.edu/Paintings-by-Lemurs
Berisades (21) and Persephone (20) are an artistic sibling duo that live on our summer tour path. Berisades is one of the most enthusiastic painters, often ready to go before our staff have finished setting up! When they first started painting years ago, Persephone took on more of a supervisory role, occasionally stealing grapes while her brother did most of the work. Now, she’s almost as eager as Berisades to step in the colorful paint in search of her favorite treats. Ring-tailed lemurs are the most terrestrial species in our colony, so they’re perfectly at home on the ground and don’t require a table to paint. The paint we use is non-toxic and water-soluble, so it’s perfectly safe for them to clean themselves off after completing their masterpieces 🍇
Painting is a form of enrichment. It gives the lemurs something exciting and different to do for an hour or so! Painting is always voluntary. If Berisades and Persephone aren’t feeling inspired on a given day, we pack up our paints and try again another day 😊
You can purchase lemur art through our online store or in person at our Lemur Landing Gift Shop! Choose a canvas size online and we’ll surprise you with the artist, or visit in person to inspect all of the options and hand-select your favorite. All paintings come with a high-quality photo of the artist(s), a galley-style ID tag, and information about the lemur species—and all sales contribute to the care and conservation of lemurs 💙
🎥: Abby Flyer
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Ruffed lemurs go mad for muscadine 🤩
It's muscadine grape season in North Carolina, and that means it's time for the Duke Lemur Center's ruffed lemurs to feast! Whether a seasoned free-ranger like black-and-white ruffed lemur Halley or a first-timer like red ruffed lemur Spock, muscadine grape season is a delightful delicacy. As frugivores, ruffed lemurs' wild diet consists primarily of fruit. They have an incredibly short digestive tract—food passes through them in under two hours!—so they serve as seed dispersers throughout Madagascar's tropical rainforests, snacking on fruits and pooping out the undigested seeds 🍇
📸: Abby Flyer (1); Meg Dye (2)
7 CommentsComment on Facebook
Duke Lemur Center do they have vines growing in their enclosures or do you harvest some for them?
I will have to try that with my lemurs. They love regular grapes n cherries, all fruit actually. I didn’t think they would like muscadine which grow wild here.
same
Help the lemurs do their back-to-school shopping by sending tasty treats from our online wishlist! 😋
www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/373AW0NFW38GY/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1
It takes a lot of food to feed just under 250 hungry lemurs! While we try to grow as many fruits and veggies as we can in our garden, there are many other diet items that we order online. Dried fruit is a fantastic motivator for positive reinforcement training and also helps our colony of fat-tailed dwarf lemurs bulk up for hibernation. Worms are an essential part of an aye-aye's daily diet, as they use their strong teeth to chew through wooden blocks to reach their wiggly snacks. Beans and nuts serve as an important source of protein for Coquerel's sifakas, especially to moms with growing infants! 🫘🥜
You can send snacks directly to your favorite primates by ordering on our Amazon wishlist! You can also help out our incredible animal care team by sending scrubs, tools, and other items that allow our staff to provide the highest quality of care to the lemurs that call the DLC home 🥰
📸: David Haring
11 CommentsComment on Facebook
Live long and prosper! Ruby's infant finally has a name: Spock 💫
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/spock
Meet the newest group of donors to come forward to claim an Ultimate Adoption! Cindy, Donna, Freda, Marsha, and Leslie have volunteered for over two thousand combined hours at the Duke Lemur Center. As volunteers, these women work closely with us by choice, without pay—and now they are stepping forward to help during a most challenging budget year. With some help from family members Tom and Susan, these five volunteers donated $20,000 to the DLC's Animal Care Fund to symbolically adopt and name red ruffed lemur Ruby's male infant. Inspired by the infant's unique white face markings at birth, the volunteers decided to name this curious little lemur after the beloved character from the original Star Trek series, portrayed by the late Leonard Nimoy. The volunteers’ donation will provide the critical support needed to maintain the excellent care of the DLC’s irreplaceable colony, allowing lemurs like little Spock to “live long and prosper" 🖖
Read more about their adoption journey and the lifelong friendships that were forged along the way at lemur.duke.edu/spock 🥰
📸: David Haring (1,3,4), Cindy (2)
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Looking for an activity that's fun for the whole family? Book tickets on a General Tour at the Duke Lemur Center! 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/visit
Our tour season runs until the last weekend of September, so make sure to snag a spot on one of our summer tours before the temperatures drop! The General Tour is a great introduction to the world's most endangered group of mammals. Guests walk the scenic tour path at their own pace, and the DLC's dedicated volunteer docents and education staff will be stationed at each lemur enclosure to tell you about the species and answer any questions 🌤
The last Thursday evening tour is THIS WEEK from 5-7pm, and our Friday evening (5-7pm) and Saturday/Sunday morning (10am-12pm) tours will run for the rest of the season. We've also added an extra General Tour on Labor Day morning, which is a week from today! Tickets MUST be purchased in advance through our website at lemur.duke.edu/visit ✨
📸: Abby Flyer
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Positive reinforcement training with Bonita’s family 💖
Utilizing positive reinforcement training (aka reward-based training), the DLC’s animal care staff can teach the lemurs how to voluntarily participate in their own health care and in non-invasive research. Teaching the lemurs to associate behaviors (such as voluntarily sitting on a scale or allowing a pregnancy check by a DLC veterinarian) with getting tasty snacks allows our team to minimize stress on both the animals and humans. Bonita’s almost-five-month-old infant is starting off with the basics: going where a keeper points in exchange for yummy apple baby food. Just like her mom and dad, she’s a star student! 🤩
📸: Keeper Sarah M.
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There's still a month left in tour season to book your visit to the Duke Lemur Center! 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/visit
Want to watch lemurs run, jump, play, snooze, and snack in our natural habitat enclosures? Book tickets on a Walking with Lemurs tour to enjoy unimpeded views of the lemurs, with no fencing or barriers in front of your eyes or your camera's lens. Walking with Lemurs tickets are available on our website through the end of the tour season (last weekend in September), so be sure to book your visit soon! 😱
Visiting Durham from October to April? Check out the tours page of our website to learn about our off-season offerings, like Wild Workshops and morning Behind the Scenes tours! October tickets are already on sale, and November tickets will be available at the beginning of September 🎟
📸: Sara Nicholson (1,2); Sara Sorraia (3,4)
7 CommentsComment on Facebook
Been here twice with FANTASTIC experiences both times. Learned a ton and was such a thrill to see these guys doing their own thing without a care about us watching from a respectful distance.
Great tours! We have taken 2. Very informative and entertaining.
love lemurs 😊♥️
1 CommentComment on Facebook
They are beautiful.