Celebrating Pollinator Week with the “Honey Bee” Twins! We’re so excited to announce the names of our littlest ring-tailed lemurs, Karl and Melissa! Karl was named by Keeper Becca, the family’s primary caretaker, after Austrian scientist Karl Von Frisch, who won a Nobel Prize for his research on honey bees and their “waggle dance.” This […]
Meet Zava! Critically endangered blue-eyed black lemur infant Zava was born on March 2, 2026, to parents Charlie and Mangamaso at a healthy 87 grams, slightly larger than her older sister Mitsiky’s birth weight. At two months old, Zava is incredibly curious, often climbing off of mom and onto the wire and branching in her […]
Published on May 5, 2026. Members of the Duke Lemur Center’s staff attended the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Mid-Year Conference in Atlanta, GA, in March. Among them was DLC Safety Coordinator and Lead Primate Technician Madison, who was recently asked to serve as the education subcommittee chair for the AZA Safety Committee. As […]
Originally sent as our “Best of Spring” eNewsletter on May 4, 2026. Join our email list to be the first to receive our newsletters in the future! Updates are sent four to six times annually. IN THIS ISSUE: Zoboomafoo, new infants, space travel, support and snuggle with our new custom plushes, advancing veterinary science, Presidential Award, […]
By Abby Flyer, M.A., Communications and Education Specialist. Originally published in LEMURS Magazine: The “Where” Issue in February 2025. Aracus was a stud in the fall of 2003. He lived in one of the Duke Lemur Center’s free-ranging forest habitats in a troop with six other ring-tailed lemurs, three of whom were breeding females. At 12 […]
The DLC has received one of Duke’s highest faculty and staff honors: the 2025-2026 Presidential Award! The Presidential Awards program, organized by the Office of the President in partnership with Duke Human Resources, recognizes staff and faculty who best demonstrate the values that define and shape Duke as an institution. The awards recognize individuals and […]
By Abby Flyer, M.A., Communications and Education Specialist. Originally published in LEMURS Magazine: Reasons for Hope in February 2026. When caring for the world’s most endangered group of mammals, no cure is “one size fits all.” Between 55 and 25 million years ago, the ancestor of aye-ayes and the ancestor of all other lemurs were […]
Cyclone Damage in Madagascar Update on Wednesday, February 18, 2026 from Greg Dye, DLC Executive Director Tropical Cyclone Gezani brought devastating winds and flooding to Madagascar when it made landfall in Toamasina (Tamatave), Madagascar on February 10. Striking with sustained winds of 115 mph, and arriving just 10 days after Cyclone Fytia hit the country’s […]