The Duke Lemur Center will hold a deposit of 50% of the total cost for each group tour or premium tour. A group representative must provide credit card information to hold the spaces for the tour. You must call to make any changes to your reservation at least 48 hours in advance of your tour. Group that cancel with less than 48 hours until their tour or no-show will be charged the 50% deposit. Groups that arrive with fewer participants for the tour without having notified the Duke Lemur Center 48 hours in advance will be charged the full amount of spaces booked.
On the Tour Comparison Chart HERE, tours that are reservable per person are public tours open to anyone who requests a reservation. Unless you book all 8 spaces on a Walking with Lemurs tour, for instance, you'll be on the tour with people outside your group. Tours that are reservable by group, on the other hand, are private bookings exclusively for you and your invitees.
General information for planning your trip to the DLC is available via our 'Plan Your Visit' webpage.
The Lemur Center is situated in Duke Forest less than 10 minutes from Duke's West Campus. Step-by-step instructions are available online.
The DLC has two types of enclosures: Natural Habitat Enclosures (NHEs) and Indoor Enclosures with Outdoor Yards. On Walking with Lemurs and Photographer’s Dream tours, guests will see lemurs in their NHEs. All other tours focus exclusively on the indoor/outdoor enclosures. Above, guests at Lemurpalooza watch lemurs playing and lounging in their outdoor yards.
Our indoor/outdoor housing areas are specially constructed for the physical and mental health of our lemurs. Each family group of lemurs is housed within a large set of interconnected enclosures and has multiple indoor rooms available to them (heated and cooled, depending on season), which are connected to multiple outdoor yards. For example, a family of 4 lemurs has access to at least 4 ‘sets’ of indoor/outdoor areas, totaling 8 individual enclosures. Different doorways lead into and out of these areas, creating ample space for natural movement and play and giving the animals privacy — away from each other, or away from public view — whenever they desire it. These spaces also help facilitate lemur research (all non-invasive) and care by allowing us to temporarily close off individual rooms within each family’s set of enclosures. This flexibility is brilliant for managing breeding groups and especially new moms and infants, as infant survival rates are significantly higher when mother and baby are separated from the group for a few days and gradually reintroduced when the infant is less vulnerable. Wire fencing between enclosures allows these lemurs to be separate and safe, while also maintaining visual and olfactory contact with the rest of their family.
Guests on our Lemurs Live and Little Lemurs tours – and Lemurpalooza attendees – see only the outdoor areas of these enclosures. Guests on our Behind the Scenes, Painting, Walking, and Keeper for A Day tours see the lemurs’ outdoor and indoor areas.
To keep our lemurs physically and mentally engaged, the indoor/outdoor enclosures are re-branched and re-furnished often to give them new layouts to explore, and special and varied enrichment activities are provided daily. These help promote natural behavior like foraging and promote not just physical health but also mental stimulation and all other aspects of the well-being of the lemurs under our care. Learn more about the DLC’s enrichment and training program on our Behind the Scenes tour.
In warmer weather, a large number of our lemurs get to free-range in large forested Natural Habitat Enclosures while also retaining access to their indoor/outdoor enclosures. Guests can see lemurs in their NHEs on the Walking with Lemurs tour.
Most tours have an outdoor component. Please dress accordingly for weather.
Rainy days – Tours will go out rain or shine provided there is no lightning or thunder in the immediate area. Umbrellas are welcome. If you would like to reschedule your visit due to weather, please call 919-401-7240. Group and specialty tours must reschedule 48 hours hours prior to the tour date or they will forfeit their deposit.
Hot days –– There are shaded areas on the tour path and we avoid standing in the direct sun for long periods of time. We now have benches along the tour path for resting. Water is welcome and encouraged on the tour.
Cold days– The lemurs are allowed outside access anytime the weather is 45 degrees or above. This does not guarantee that the lemurs will choose to be outside, however, as they always have access to indoor heated areas of their enclosures as well. If there is not good viewing outside, then we will bring you into two indoor viewing areas.
On cold or rainy days, some of our lemurs will choose to stay cozy in their indoor enclosures. While this is healthiest and best for the individual lemur, it does make it more difficult sometimes to see them on general tours! As we are first and foremost an educational, not entertainment, facility we will never “force” our lemurs to come out into public view. Our guides will do their best to show you as many species as possible and will share information about each lemur even if he or she isn’t visible on the tour path that day. We strive to provide a fabulous and educational experience for all visitors within the constraints of working with live animals.
Nope! As cuddly as the animals may appear, our lemurs are wild animals. For the safety of our animals and our guests, no visitors are allowed any physical contact with the animals. However, we do welcome flash-free photography – the lemurs can be quite photogenic!
