December 17, 2013 — Caring for lemurs is more than a full time job. The Duke Lemur Center relies on a dozen trained keepers and more than 70 volunteers for everything from feeding lemurs and cleaning enclosures, to sweeping up at the end of the day. Here, we’ll introduce you to the people who work […]
December 10, 2013 — Dr. Erik Patel, SAVA Conservation director in Madagascar, submitted this report on a new comprehensive strategy for lemur conservation: A new publicly available ‘Lemur Conservation Action Plan’ has recently been released by The Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN-SSC (International Union for the Conservation of Nature – Species Survival Commission). This […]
December 5, 2013 — Since its inception in Spring 2012, the Duke Lemur Center’s SAVA Conservation project has been supporting reforestation in a part of Madagascar where the trees are hardest hit. Satellite-based monitoring indicates that forest disturbance in Madagascar more than doubled in the period between July and September 2013, compared to the same period in 2012. […]
November 26, 2013 — The Duke Lemur Center houses over 250 animals, but every individual is special. Here, we’ll take some time to help you get to know the stories behind some of our favorite residents. Get the scoop without the poop. In the following interview, technician Erin Shaw tells us how a very fortunate […]
November 15, 2013 — Fall brings to mind a palette of yellows, browns and oranges. In the DLC garden, however, fall is the season of cool-weather greens. Kale, romaine, spinach, collards, chard and a mesclun mix are all part of the November harvest, providing a nutritious supplement to the lemurs’ regular diet. Greens are not always the […]
November 14, 2013 — A new conservation partnership aims to promote family planning in Madagascar, report Charlie Welch and Dr. Erik Patel of the Duke Lemur Center: This October, a women’s reproductive health specialist visited the village of Belaoka Lokoho (adjacent to Marojejy NP, 15km from Andapa) to offer local women the option of contraception. […]
November 5, 2013 —The fancy neck charm this lemur is wearing is no fashion accessory. Weighing in at just under an ounce, it’s a battery-powered data logger that measures light exposure and activity levels continuously over many days. Researchers outfitted twenty lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center with the special gadgets to study the animals’ […]
May 9, 2013 — For the past four years our research team has investigated lemur cognitive abilities. Adapted to unique niches in Madagascar, lemur species differ considerably in sociality, foraging patterns, and other characteristics that may have caused them to evolve different problem-solving skills. We test these skills through interactive experiments, that may require lemurs […]
