The time is now

Duke Lemur Center

1 day ago

You might as well call these fluffy primates "black and yellow ruffed lemurs" during pollen season! 🌼

Did you know that ruffed lemurs are the world's largest pollinators? The namesake ruffs around their faces are perfect for catching pollen when these primates stick their faces into flowers to drink nectar. By moving from flower to flower in search of sweet snacks, black and white ruffed lemurs help pollinate the forest, just like bees! Ruffed lemurs Spitzer, Halley, and Bruno show off their yellow snouts after a sunny morning foraging for flora in their forest enclosure. Just looking at them makes you want to sneeze! 🤧

📸: Keeper Sarah K. ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

3 days ago

Gisela's little girl continues to explore! 💖

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/ultimate

Our littlest Coquerel's sifaka, the granddaughter of Jovian aka Zoboomafoo, is getting more confident by the day! She's almost 10 weeks old and looks like the spitting image of her mama. With encouragement from big brothers Silas and Arcadius, she's hitting growth milestones rapidly and shaping up to be a brave, inquisitive juvenile 🤩

Looking to make a tax-deductible donation of $20,000 to symbolically adopt and name Gisela's female infant? This opportunity will only be available for a few more weeks! Visit our website to learn more at lemur.duke.edu/ultimate or email us at adoptalemur@duke.edu if you're interested in making a huge impact toward the care and conservation of this critically endangered species 💙

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

5 days ago

Fun facts about aye-aye Fady:

👻 Her name means "taboo" or "superstition" in Malagasy ("fah-dee")

🎨 She sometimes like to finger paint, but only if she's paid in honey

🙃 She is trained to voluntarily hang upside down to get an ultrasound

🪹 She doesn't mind living with former breeding partner Grendel, as long as he sleeps in a separate nest

🍼 She's been a super mom but is now enjoying the empty nester life

🏄‍♀️ She was born at the San Diego Zoo (aka she's a California girl!)

💙 You can keep up with her throughout the year while also supporting lemur care and conservation by symbolically adopting her at lemur.duke.edu/adopt

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

6 days ago

A couple more redbud photos to brighten your afternoon 🌸

Redbud flowers are a favorite snack amongst lemurs, and we have plenty of this native plant growing across our 100 acre facility in Duke Forest! Keeper Leah passed out fresh redbud branches to some of our residents yesterday, including blue-eyed black lemur Gellar and mongoose lemur Leonor. It's been a little chillier in North Carolina this week, but that just means our keepers bring the outside snacks indoors! 😋

📸: Keeper Leah ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

6 days ago

The field of hibernation is hot, hot, hot—and Dr. Ana Breit is studying fat-tailed dwarf lemurs to crack the code to tropical hibernation 🤩

➡️ lemur.duke.edu/ana-breit

We're continuing to celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth by highlighting some of our fantastic researchers! When people think of hibernation, they tend to picture animals in dens deep beneath a layer of snow, waiting out the winter. But Dr. Ana Breit studies tropical hibernation, where animals like Madagascar’s tenrecs (small hedgehog-like and shrew-like mammals) and dwarf lemurs enter months-long hibernation periods not because of extreme cold, but because of the dry season and its accompanying reduction in food and water availability. This research has enormous translational potential for human synthetic hibernation, with applications for both long-duration space missions and for biomedical insights into humans here on Earth 🌎

Read more on our blog or in the newest edition of our annual magazine, the "Reasons for Hope" Issue, available in person and online at lemur.duke.edu/magazine ✨ ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

There are storms rolling through North Carolina today, but don't worry—all of the lemurs are safe and comfortable in their indoor enclosures 🌧️

The Duke Lemur Center will be closed to the public today (3/16). Our animal care team are making sure all of the lemurs stay cozy and enriched while they wait out any inclement weather. Stay safe today, lemur lovers! 💙

📸: Keepers Sarah M. (ring-tailed lemur Sprite, Coquerel's sifaka Francesca) and Sarah K. (blue-eyed black lemur Leigh, black-and-white ruffed lemur Bruno, and collared lemur Bentley) ... See MoreSee Less

Duke Lemur Center

1 week ago

One-year-old Aurelius explores the bamboo in his family's new forest enclosure 🎋

Coquerel's sifaka Aurelius lives in a boisterous family of five with mom Rodelinda, dad Johann, and older siblings Egeria and Albus. Aurelius, who is now almost adult-sized, has a shave near the tip of his tail to tell him apart from the rest of his family members. Like most lemurs, sifakas can't eat bamboo, but it serves as fantastic structural enrichment for them to cling to as they show off their signature vertical clinging and leaping locomotion 🤩

📸: David Haring ... See MoreSee Less