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Hand-drawn illustrations of endemic Madagascar plants and animals, with the text "ISLAND OF EVOLUTION: The One and Only Madagascar."

Island of Evolution: The One and Only Madagascar

Written and Illustrated by Talia Felgenhauer, 2023-24 Undergraduate Fellow in Communications. Originally published in LEMURS Magazine: The “Why” Issue in February 2024. Madagascar is an island like no other. Located hundreds of miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, Madagascar has been isolated for more than 80 million years, changing and evolving independently from the […]

Why Duke University’s Lemur Center Travels To Wyoming Every Summer

By Andrew Rossi. Originally published in Cowboy State Daily on December 1, 2024. Scientists from the Duke Lemur Center at Duke University come out to Wyoming every summer to find fossils from the earliest ancestors of modern-day lemurs and primates. They say the Bridger Basin is the Madagascar of the Eocene Period. There are plenty […]

VIDEO: Let’s talk about… Bamboo!

  There are at least seven species of bamboo in the SAVA (northeastern) region of Madagascar, some native and some introduced. Some lemurs are bamboo-eating specialists! People in Madagascar use bamboo for diverse purposes, even building their houses from it. Some bamboo are so dense, they make excellent substitutes for wood—and because they can grow […]

[JUST FOR FUN] Announcing the 2024 Lemur of the Year: Albus!

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the past year… and that includes selecting this year’s Lemur of the Year! In a poll sent out to Duke Lemur Center staff, we asked for nominations for an annual Lemur of the Year award. Primate technicians, veterinarians, researchers, educators, and administrators were given […]

INFANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Meet Zoboomafoo’s Newest Grandson!

An Early Start to the 2025 Baby Season 13-year-old Coquerel’s sifaka Gisela has always been a go-getter. Gisela is the daughter of Jovian, the famous sifaka who played Zoboomafoo in the eponymous TV show. She has lived with her breeding partner, 15-year-old Rupert, for just over a decade, and she’s one of the most dominant […]

[QUIZ] Interact with Some Enrichment and Find Out Which Lemur You Are!

Happy World Lemur Day 2024! If you loved our Which DLC Lemur Are You? quiz from last year’s World Lemur Day, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve made a sequel! All new decisions, all new lemurs—with some returning favorites. Click here or take the quiz below. You can help provide enrichment to our lemurs […]

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Field Research in Madagascar

In the summer of 2024, Duke undergraduate Erika Kraabel traveled to Madagascar to help the DLC Museum of Natural History team collect lemur bones at Bezà Mahafaly Special Reserve, a longstanding research site in southwestern Madagascar. “At the DLC Museum, I’ve been learning the foundations of fossil preparation and have been involved in rehousing the […]

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Fossil-hunting in the American West

An important part of the Duke Lemur Center’s mission is to inspire and train the next generation of scientists and environmental stewards. To do that, the DLC offers as many opportunities as possible for students to work side-by-side withe the Lemur Center’s researchers, science educators, animal care and veterinary staff, and conservationists. Here, Duke Evolutionary […]