Andrea Katz, who served as the Duke Lemur Center Curator since 2006, has just moved into a new and exciting role: Program Manager, Madagascar Conservation Initiatives! Working with the Government of Madagascar, she will undertake a program to advance animal husbandry, welfare, and breeding programs for ex situ lemur populations in Madagascar. Lemur collections are […]
by Marina Blanco, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Project Coordinator, DLC-SAVA Conservation We recently conducted a research mission at Anjajavy, targeting two small-bodied nocturnal lemurs: Microcebus (mouse lemurs) and Cheirogaleus (dwarf lemurs). Broadly speaking, there are two projects we are interested in: (1) we would like to include Anjajavy’s mouse lemurs to our comprehensive database to help elucidate […]
By Elizabeth Anne Brown. Originally published in the Durham News & Observer on March 20, 2018. Liesl, a 9-year-old ring-tailed lemur with the attitude of an Amazon warrior, is the undisputed matriarch of the North Carolina pine forest her family calls home. She and her troop preside over 14 acres of land, foraging alongside squirrels […]
Like humans, mouse lemurs sometimes develop amyloid brain plaques and other Alzheimer’s-like symptoms as they age. Because mouse lemurs are primates, they are a closer genetic match to humans than mice or rats are. The Duke Lemur Center’s non-invasive research on these tiny primate cousins could help explain the initial stages of Alzheimer’s and other […]
“John Cleese is a tall person who loves lemurs, coffee and wine.” –And lemurs love John Cleese! On November 7, legendary British comedian John Cleese dropped by the Duke Lemur Center to visit Aemilia the sifaka, Medusa and Agatha the aye-ayes, and members of several other species – including mouse lemurs, the first he’d […]
By Robin A. Smith DURHAM, N.C. — Gregg Gunnell, 63, a Duke University paleontologist who oversaw a collection of more than 30,000 fossils from around the world, died Wednesday, September 20 at Duke University Hospital in Durham. Gunnell died while undergoing treatment for lymphoma, which he was diagnosed with less than a month before his […]
By Sara Clark The Duke Lemur Center recently welcomed another newborn — a rare baby aye-aye. Named after best-selling mystery writer Agatha Christie, the infant is the first aye-aye born at the Duke Lemur Center in six years, and one of only 24 of her kind in the United States. Third-time mom Medusa gave birth […]
By Sara Clark DURHAM, N.C. — After three years of planning and 60 hours of travel, a new pair of lemurs have arrived at the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina, 9,000 miles from their home in Madagascar. The breeding pair will be used to improve the gene pool of captive members of the critically […]
