Meet Java Chicken’s Triplets! On May 19, 2025, fat-tailed dwarf lemur Java Chicken gave birth to triplets! Java Chicken is a first-time mom, while dad Francolin has previously sired other offspring. She birthed three healthy infants: Sora (male), Cooper (male), and Swift (female). At their first infant wellness exam, Swift and Cooper weighed 14.9 grams […]
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 ✅ […]
On Saturday, May 17, 2025, the DLC celebrated the nearly 40-year career and upcoming retirement of our Conservation Coordinator and planter of seeds, Charlie Welch! We’re proud to share this video of the presentations of the evening as well as a full transcript of the speakers’ remarks. What a lovely evening it was, and […]
There’s only one thing that could make Baby Season more exciting: Now, for the first time ever, the Duke Lemur Center’s animal care team is sharing the honor of naming our newest colony members with the public! With a tax-deductible donation of $20,000 to the DLC’s Animal Care Fund or General Operations Fund, individuals, families, […]
Gatsby, Presley, Mangamaso, Egeria, Domestic Chicken, Marshmallow, Sputnik, Poe—if you visit the Duke Lemur Center, you will likely hear a plethora of names that range from obscure to something you might see on a kindergarten attendance list. While some of these names seem absurd out of context, they’re rooted in decades of tradition and species-specific […]
By Robin Smith, Ph.D. Originally published on the Duke Research Blog on April 21, 2025. Read the original here. If there was a contest for biggest female bullies of the animal world, lemurs would be near the top of the list. In these distant primate cousins, it’s the ladies who call the shots, relying on physical aggression […]
For many in Madagascar, the new year brings many opportunities for landscape restoration. January is usually a perfect time because the rainy season has begun, providing natural irrigation for the trees. All over the island, different partners and organizations host big reforestation events, sometimes with thousands of people planting tens of thousands of trees. At […]
Who would have thought that a small collection of mixed primates brought to Duke Forest in 1966 would grow into a global force in lemur care, research, and conservation? In LEMURS Magazine: The “Where” Issue, we highlight the work we do around the globe, from North Carolina to Madagascar and everywhere in between!
