This oddly charming lemur face belongs to Ichabod, the first male aye-aye born to captive bred parents. Ichabod was born this summer to Merlin and Ardrey at their home in the Duke Lemur Center. Ichabod is a hearty youth with a lusty voice (when he is picked up out of his nest for weighing, he lets his keeper know his displeasure clearly by “eeping” loudly - very loudly!) He lives with his mom, who is teaching him the ropes - as well as the trees and the vines. He is learning his lessons well. He is growing incredibly fast—he doubled his 116-gram birth weight at one week of age, and had quadrupled it by the time he was one month old! At two and a half months of age, he ventured out of the safe haven of his nestbox on his own for the first time. By the following day, he was not only out of the box again, but actively climbing the highest trees in his room!
You can see an aye-aye and other lemurs by calling 919.489.3364 to schedule a tour.
If you would like to support the work done at the Duke Lemur Center, click here.
I am glad to see that Ichabod is doing so well!!! My boyfriend and I went to see the lemurs and our adoptees of the past two years, Beavis and Beeper!!! We loved seeing all of the lemurs, although we were both a little disappointed we did not get to see the aye-ayes, we understand that sometimes they need their privacy!!! You all do great work here and I hope to join you someday soon, as I plan on spending my life helping the lives of these beautiful, fascinating prosimians too.........
ReplyDeletePrettybomu, how wonderful that you plan to spend your life studying and protecting this special animals. I know that you know that when you adopt one of Duke Lemur Center's animals, you are helping to assure a brighter future for all the lemurs. All the proceeds from adoptions go to care for the animals, and the animals at the Lemur Center not only help us know more about lemurs in general, they serve as a safety net for the lemur gene pool.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you didn't get to see a lemur when you were here. We are making every effort to see that an aye-aye is always on the tour path, but as you so graciously recognized, they are unavailable at times. Come back though. There is usually an aye-aye available, and they are spectacular in their uniqueness! The first time I saw one, it took my breath away.