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 […]
Why is lemur research important? A newly published study by Dr. Erin McKenney, one of our Director’s (Anne Yoder’s) recent graduates, highlights just TWO reasons: “McKenney and her fellow researchers recently discovered that the gut microbiomes of two of the lemur species share surprising similarities with those of humans who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases, like Crohn’s […]
