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Action shots of one-year-old twins Eowyn and Merry 💨
While mom Sierra Mist doesn't seem too impressed by her kids' antics, there's nothing more fun than watching these ring-tailed lemur twins explore the forest for the first time! Merry and Eowyn, who were born March 2024, are some of the more rambunctious free-rangers who enjoy the summer sun in our natural habitat enclosures. Not pictured: the whole family cuddling up in a sleepy pile when they return to their indoor enclosures after a full day of energetic free-ranging 🤩
If you've been on a Walking with Lemurs tour this summer, you may have met this dynamic family! If you've been on a General or Private Tour, you've likely met the twins' older siblings, Scout and Gatsby, on our summer tour path. Learn about all of the different ways you can visit the Duke Lemur Center at lemur.duke.edu/visit ✨
📸: Sara Nicholson
In this new video, we’ve partnered with CYLNDR Studios to explore a fresh way to tell our story. By responsibly using AI tools, we were able to create visuals that help people see and feel the wonder of lemurs—and the urgent need to protect them 🌍
We’re excited to share this piece as a conversation starter, an invitation for support, and a reminder of what’s at stake.
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/closer
BACKGROUND: “Closer Than You Think” was created by a team of creatives at CYLNDR Studios, a Los Angeles-based video production company, as part of the DLC’s ongoing effort to share the story of lemurs and inspire support for their future. Using AI tools in conjunction with materials provided by the DLC, the result is a bit of fantasy, a blend of real and not, that helps us visualize moments and connections that would otherwise be impossible to capture.
This was a pro bono project, completed for no charge for the DLC. We’re grateful to the teams at CYLNDR and LTX Labs for donating their time and talent to bringing lemurs, and the people working to protect them, to life in a whole new way 💙
16 CommentsComment on Facebook
Duke Lemur Center as someone who has donated a not insubstantial amount to DLC over the last few years, I have to say I am very disappointed to see you working with and platforming the use of generative AI which among its very many ethical issues, is terribly bad for the environment in how energy intensive the technology is.
The quality of the AI generated lemur images appears to range from that of a Disney animated feature (mother brown lemur and infant) to a primitive claymation sequence using lemur plush toys rather than clay figures (sifaka bipedal hopping footage). I am sure that AI will continue to improve to such an extent that soon you will not be able to tell the difference between an AI generated lemur image and a real lemur. Then people can just sit around with their VR headphones and watch incredibly realistic AI generated lemurs prancing around in their incredibly realistic AI generated Madagascar forest habitat. But what's the point from the standpoint of actual living lemurs and lemur conservation? If you can sit in your living room and watch images of fantastic creatures in an otherworldly forest does that make you more likely to jump up and make an actual effort to preserve real forests and their creatures, or does it make you more likely to just settle into your comfy chair and watch more and more VR? Finally, why manufacture images of adorable baby (and adult) lemurs when you have the real thing right outside your doorstep?
As a long time photographer and one who has spent a lot of time around lemurs, I do not like the plastic effect of the AI images. Tastes may change but the environmental damage of energy consumption will be a constant.
Coquerel's sifaka Ferdinand, son of Jovian aka Zoboomafoo, looks regal in a tree 👑
We love to feature photos from guests on our social media! Dr. Colin Duckett, Executive Vice Dean for Basic and Preclinical Science at the Duke University School of Medicine, recently captured this great photo of Ferdinand in one of our free-ranging forest enclosures. If you come on a tour and take any photos that you think are social media worthy, feel free to email your highlights to our team at primate@duke.edu, and we might choose a few favorites to post 😉
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Enjoy this sneak peek into the nest of the DLC's newest infants: Bufflehead, Smew, and Toulouse Goose! 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/dominique-triplets
On June 3, 2025, fat-tailed dwarf lemur Dominique Chicken gave birth to three little girls! This is Dominique Chicken’s second litter with breeding partner Goose, following the birth of twins Wigeon and Eider in 2023. Dominique Chicken is the older sister of Java Chicken, whose infants we announced just last week. Bufflehead and Smew, like their older sister and brother, get their names from duck species, while Toulouse Goose, in a nod to her dad, is named after a breed of domestic goose 🦆
Unlike diurnal lemurs, whose infants cling to mom's belly and travel through the forest with the family, nocturnal lemurs build nests to house their infants until they're developed enough to explore on their own. Dominique Chicken and her family live in one of our free-ranging nocturnal rooms, meaning that she, Goose, and their offspring will have plenty of space to explore once the babies get more adventurous! Stay tuned for future videos as these tiny triplets take on the world 🥰
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/adopt
If you symbolically adopt fat-tailed dwarf lemur Raven through our Adopt a Lemur program, you'll be excited to learn that these are even MORE of her grandlemurs! Learn more about how you can support the care and conservation of lemurs through our symbolic adoption program, or discover all of the ways you can contribute to the Duke Lemur Center at lemur.duke.edu/donate 💙
🎥: Elizabeth D. (Smew starts outside of the basket, Bufflehead is on the left, and Toulouse Goose eats the blueberry)
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Coquerel's sifakas Remus and Francesca hurry home at the sound of their dinner bell 🤩
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/wwl
Like many of the Duke Lemur Center's residents, Remus and Francesca free-range in one of our forest enclosures during the day and return to their secure indoor homes late in the afternoon. Thanks to month of positive reinforcement training with our husbandry staff, the lemurs voluntarily recall in response to a dinner bell! When the bell rings at the beginning of the video, Remus takes note but waits for his mate to appear before following her to their overnight enclosure 🥰
Want to see these incredible primates leap, snack, snooze, and play in person? Book a Walking with Lemurs tour at the Duke Lemur Center! Walking with Lemurs tours run most mornings at 8:30am and/or 10:30am and are open to guests ages 10+. Tickets are currently available on our website through the end of September, so reserve your spot now at lemur.duke.edu/wwl ✨
🎥: Abby Flyer
📸: Sara Nicholson (cover photo)
39 CommentsComment on Facebook
My kids and I were supposed to visit this place while we were on vacation in NC. But a huge snow storm hit and we spent the day holed up in our hotel instead😢. Maybe one day I’ll get another chance to visit.
This is great. I have been fascinated with lemurs since I was a kid. But you might make where you are located a bit easier to find. I had no idea what state you were in. If I hadn't been motivated, I never would have known.
The positive reinforcement training is truly impressive, and it's wonderful to see the lemurs responding so well to the dinner bell ❤️
We're excited to announce our first small nocturnal infants of the year: Swift, Cooper, and Sora! 💕
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/java-triplets
On May 19th, fat-tailed dwarf lemur Java Chicken gave birth to three healthy infants! Java Chicken is a first-time mom, while dad Francolin has previously sired other offspring. Like all fat-tailed dwarf lemurs born at the Duke Lemur Center, Java Chicken’s triplets are named after birds. Sora (male) shares his name with a small waterbird; Cooper (male) is named after a bird of prey, the Cooper’s hawk; and Swift (female) shares her name not just with pop superstar Taylor, but also a migratory bird that spends most of its life airborne 🦅
Java Chicken has thus far been a fantastic mother, and her infants are incredibly curious and energetic. Java Chicken built her nest out of a recycled Coke box, filled with fresh browse provided by her keepers (check the third photo to see mom, the nest, and a sneaky cameo from one of the babies!) 🤩
If you symbolically adopt fat-tailed dwarf lemur Raven through our Adopt a Lemur program, you'll be excited to learn that these are her newest grandlemurs! Learn about how you can support the care and conservation of lemurs through our symbolic adoption program at lemur.duke.edu/adopt 🥰
📸: Madison A. (1,5); Sarah K. (2,3,4,6)
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Join our team of garden volunteers to help feed hungry lemurs! 🌽
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/volunteer
Are you looking to get your hands dirty and work outside? If so, we need you! The Duke Lemur Center is looking for volunteers to help care for the DLC vegetable gardens, pocket prairie, tropical garden, and landscaping around the grounds. The food forest and veggie garden provide a supplemental organic food source for our resident lemurs. The pocket prairie, tropical garden, and landscaping around the center serve as food for native pollinators, while also beautifying the spaces where our guests tour and learn about our conservation mission 🍓
Garden duties include planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, composting, and occasional hard labor of working the soil. No gardening experience necessary but is always helpful. A 2 hour commitment per week is required. While at work in the gardens, volunteers are welcome to pause and watch the lemurs 🤩
Visit our website at lemur.duke.edu/volunteer to learn more and apply! 💚
📸: David Haring (mongoose lemur Rico)
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
What a dream job, gardening and lemurs = heaven! Just my commute to work (UK to USA) would take me a while each week...🤣
Thank you Volunteers!!!!
If I was closer we would.
Remember, kids: eat your fruits and veggies! 🍊
Mongoose lemur Bonita's female infant just turned three months old! Just like her mama, this little girl loves snacking on sweet fruits, although she still gets most of her nutrients from nursing. Bonita's infant has grown incredibly curious and now spends most of her time independent, and guests on General and Private Tours often spot this little lemur bouncing from branch to branch in her enclosure while mom and dad attempt to nap in the background 😂
➡️ lemur.duke.edu/ultimate
Bonita's infant still doesn't have a name—and YOU could be the one to name her! With a tax-deductible donation of $20,000, you (or your family, company, organization, etc) can *symbolically* adopt and name this little lemur. Your donation contributes to the care of the infant, her family, and all of the other lemurs who reside in our colony. Adoptions include quarterly email updates, complete with social media-worthy photos and videos, and a visit to the DLC to meet your adopted infant. Visit our website to learn more or email us directly at adoptalemur@duke.edu if you're ready to make a contribution! 💙
📸: Sarah M.
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So adorable!❤️
Such a cute little face.
I heard they could be easily confused with brown lemurs, and now I see why! We've got two baby red-fronteds at CMZ and I did a double take while scrolling 😁
The Duke Lemur Center is proud to celebrate love, compassion, and empathy throughout the year, and we want to show our support this #PrideMonth for our LGBTQ+ friends, family, staff, volunteers, guests, and lemur lovers around the world. Y’all means all! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷🤍🩵
#pride #loveislove #durhampride
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Portraits of some very handsome aye-ayes 🤩
While aye-ayes are sometimes considered one of the spookiest animals on the planet, they tend to be some of the sweetest and most anxious lemurs in our colony. Aye-ayes use their remarkable hearing during percussive foraging, tapping on branches or logs with their specialized fingers and using a form of echolocation to locate tasty bugs and grub hidden within. Because their hearing is so sensitive, the Duke Lemur Center's aye-ayes are housed in an area separate from the main tour path, where limited foot traffic helps reduce anxiety and sensory overload. Aye-ayes can be some of the longest lived lemurs in human care—Poe, who was born in 1986, is among the oldest lemurs to ever live and is currently the oldest resident at the DLC!
Want to see aye-ayes in person? Our Behind the Scenes tour is the only tour during the summer season that visits these elusive nocturnal primates! Learn more and book now on our website at lemur.duke.edu/onsite-tours ✨
These portraits were taken recently of Poe (age 38), Grendel (age 15), and Binx (age 3) 😁
📸: David Haring
19 CommentsComment on Facebook
Aye-Ayes were never a fav of mine, but they have won over my ♥️♥️♥️ ♥️
When I saw one in person the first time, I was surprised about how big they are!
I needed an Aye-aye fix today.
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I love my cosines
These are A-Mazing photos! Great captures Sara!
What's the derivation of the name Eowyn