May 8, 2014 — Just in time for Mother’s Day, visitors to the Duke Lemur Center can see the new baby lemurs and their moms, many of whom are now making their first public appearances.
Infants at the Duke Lemur Center are given an opportunity to bond behind the scenes before going on public display. Now and for the next few months, Lemur Center tour participants can see some of the new moms and babies up close as they venture into parts of the Duke Forest for the first time. Find out how big the babies were when they were born, watch them as they ride on their mothers’ backs and try their first solid foods, and see how their dads and siblings react to the new infants.
Highlights include:
- Three to four-month-old baby sifakas Eleanor, Gertrude and Aemilia are now roaming free in the forest. These babies are among the fewer than ten individuals of their species born in North America this year.
- Six week-old ring-tailed lemur twins LuLu and Willow are also on display, alongside their mom Sprite, 13, and older siblings Izze and Jones. Visitors can spot them in the trees by their long black and white striped tails.
- Mae West, a three year-old blue-eyed black lemur, gave birth to a blue-eyed baby boy on March 25. Representing one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world, Mae West is one of only two females of her species of breeding age in North America. Her baby has just received his official name — Kevin Bacon. The custom at the Lemur Center is to name all individuals of his species after blue-eyed celebrities.
- Carolina, a four-year-old mongoose lemur, gave birth to a baby boy on April 12. He is one of only 5-8 mongoose lemur births expected in North America this year.
- One additional pregnant lemur mother — Seshat, a three-year-old crowned lemur — is also expected to deliver in the coming weeks. Seshat and her baby will be viewable by mid-June in the Miaru building.
- Breeding season is currently underway for the mouse lemurs. The first mouse lemur ultrasounds to find out if any of the females are pregnant will be later in May/June.
Please call (919) 489-3364 ext.0 or (919) 401-7240 to arrange a time to visit. All tours are by appointment only and are conducted seven days a week. The best viewing opportunities of the moms and their new babies are from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., when participants in our ‘Walking with Lemurs’ tour can watch technicians feed the animals, and go into parts of Duke Forest where lemurs roam free with no barriers between you and the animals. Lemur moms Sprite, Drusilla and West and their babies are visible every Thursday on the ‘Walking with Lemurs’ tour. Pia and her infant Gertrude are visible on the Tuesday ‘Walking with Lemurs’ tour. Carolina and her new baby boy are visible every day of the week on the ‘Lemurs Live!’ tour. For more information visit https://lemur.duke.edu/visit/tours/.
