Lemurs in Danger: Why the wide-eyed primate is under threat
By Laura Pellicer and Frank Stasio
Aired August 7, 2018 on WUNC 91.5 North Carolina Public Radio
The vast majority of lemur species are under threat, according to a new review from a group of international conservationists. The group convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that of 111 known species and subspecies of lemur, 105 of them, or 95 percent, face a high risk of extinction.
Host Frank Stasio speaks with Cathy Williams, curator of the living animals collection at the Duke Lemur Center and former longtime senior veterinarian for the center, about the many reasons why lemurs are at risk in their native Madagascar, including mining and deforestation. Williams also discusses how saving the primate is dependent on Madagascar’s economic stability.
Click here to listen to Stasio and Williams’s full 12-minute interview: http://www.wunc.org/post/lemurs-danger-why-wide-eyed-primate-under-threat#stream/0.
Cathy Williams, curator and veterinarian at the Duke Lemur Center, examines an infant indri in Madagascar.
