By David Haring, DLC Registrar and Photographer. Originally published in February 2017. The Duke Lemur Center was one of the first modern-day captive breeding centers to house the mysterious and, at the time, little studied aye-aye. (The Paris Zoo and Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust were other pioneers.) Three complicated and arduous DLC capture missions to […]
Published December 5, 2018. Happy birthday to our ancient aye-aye Endora, who just celebrated her 35th birthday! She and her enclosure mate, Ozma — who is a mere 33 years old! — celebrated by chowing down on frozen-banana-with-raisins birthday treats made by their caretaker Jodi. Endora is still going strong and has smashed records for […]
By Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato. Originally published on September 4, 2013 in National Geographic online. View the original here. Pictured: A fat-tailed dwarf lemur peeks out of a tree in Madagascar. Photograph by Frans Lanting, National Geographic. Ever wished you could hibernate? Ask a fat-tailed dwarf lemur how it’s done. These mini-primates have a talent that could […]
Six-year-old male ring-tailed lemur Jones may look like he is a lemur somewhat lacking in arms as he sniffs a sapling in Natural Habitat Enclosure #9, but rest assured, he is a well-armed male in the prime of life! His odd posture is due to the fact that, in typical male ring-tail marking behavior, he […]
“Some plants in Madagascar may have evolved fruit colors so that they can be seen by lemurs that are red-green colorblind.” Super interesting article — and a Duke University researcher is featured too! Plants Can’t Talk. But Some Fruits Say ‘Eat Me’ to Animals. By JoAnna Klein. Originally published in the New York Times on October 9, 2018. Read […]
Originally published on the Duke Research blog on September 27, 2018. By Robin Smith. To digest his leafy diet, this sifaka gets a little help from the trillions of bacteria that inhabit his gut. Sifaka lemurs living at the Duke Lemur Center feed on a range of wild plants during warm months, such as fresh sumac, tulip […]
Thrasher, a 12-year-old fat-tailed dwarf lemur, proudly displays his beautiful thick tail — evidence that the DLC’s mouse and dwarf lemurs have begun entering the initial phases of their yearly period of torpor! If Thrasher were a wild lemur living in Madagascar, the fat stored in his tail would help him survive the cool dry […]
