Duke Lemur Center says, "Viva Las Vegas!"

What’s so special about Anne Margret and Elvis Presley besides staring in a great classic movie? Well, Margret and Presley are also the names of the two adorable twins born to Jody Foster at the Lemur Center on March 21st.

Confused? Let’s start at the beginning. Remember Foster? She’s a 14 year old blue eyed black lemur (Eulemur macaco flavifrons), one of only 9 flavifrons females in captivity in North America (males are much more plentiful with a population of 20). Flavifrons are a highly endangered subspecies of black lemur. Last year Foster gave birth to the famous blues brother twins, Akroyd and Belushi. (Stay tuned to the DLC blog for their first year birthday update as they graduate to free ranging in the forests of our facility this summer.) This year, Foster gave birth to another set of twins, and this time, one is a very special color.

RED…the color of hope for this species -the color of females. Mother Nature gives hope in small doses and this one comes in the form of a little red furry bundle of energy named Margret. All flavifrons are born red to blend in with their mother’s fur. But at about 6 weeks, the males turn black. It’s an anxious time for care takers who every day strain their eyes at two clinging infants wanting to see only red and trying to deny any hint of black fur growing. This year, Margret stayed red. She and her brother Presley are so far the only flavifrons infants born in captivity in North America and possibly the world this year. And Margret is the first female to be born at the Lemur Center since 2004.

Hope for this species could grow if only humans help. Foster is the only successful flavifrons mother in captivity at this time and even she needs help. Only 5 ½ weeks into their lives, Foster rejected her infant male Presley, just as she did the year before to the blues brother twins (when they were two months old). She left Presley with scratches across his fore head, alone on the floor. In efforts to save him, care takers took him for hand raising and made a heart wrenching decision - they would pull Margret off her mother too. Margret is too valuable to lose. With her mother Foster possibly nearing the end of her reproductive years, Margret must survive.

The future is uncertain for this stunning subspecies. Flavifrons don’t enjoy a great deal of protection in the wild. Their native ranges are mostly outside of parks and protected lands. This leaves them vulnerable to human impact. If Margret survives, and has many daughters of her own, the SSP (species survival plan) manager for this species will need to provide her and her offspring with a home (and mates), either at the Duke Lemur Center or at qualified zoos across the country. And who knows? Perhaps one day attempts may be made to reintroduce blue-eyed lemurs to protected habitat in Madagascar!

For now, Margret and Presley cling to their teddy bear mom and enjoy grooming from caring technicians with a tiny tooth brush. They are growing well and developing more each day playing with swings and branches and tasting new foods.

Intrinsic value is wrapped up in the wonderful emotions people experience from the existence of something. Take a look at Margret and Presley and discover how great the value of their little blue eyes can be.

Taking care of lemurs

The risk of Swine Flu has brought extra precautions to the Duke Lemur Center. The lemurs do not pose any extra risk to people, and we want to assure that people don't pose any extra risk to the lemurs. So masks and gloves are the order of the day. When caring for an endangered species, it's always better safe than sorry!

Titus - His Story

Photo and post by David Haring, DLC Registrar and Photographer

The Duke Lemur Center is saddened to announce the death of Titus, an approximately 25-year-old, wild-caught male golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) from cancer. At the time of his death, Titus was the only reported golden-crowned sifaka in captivity anywhere in the world, and he was the last of the ten golden-crowned sifakas imported from Madagascar by the Lemur Center in the 1980s and 90s (two pairs were imported in November 1987, two pairs were imported in July, 1988, and one pair (including Titus) was imported in July 1993.

The golden-crowned sifaka was first discovered by western scientists in 1974 when Ian Tattersall photographed and described it in Northern Madagascar, thinking at the time that it was a subspecies of Propithecus diadema. When the Lemur Center first imported two pairs in 1987, they were still thought to be a subspecies of P. diadema, but Duke Lemur Center Director Elwyn Simons made the astonishing discovery that the golden-crowned sifaka was an entirely new species, and he named it after Ian Tattersal in a paper introducing it to the scientific world in 1988.

Of the ten wild-caughts imported, six died after less than one year in captivity. The four animals which survived longer than one year lived for five, six, fifteen (Titus) and eighteen (Agrippa) years. One of the wild-caught females was pregnant when imported and her infant, who had to be hand-raised, lived for three years. Three infants were born from the captive conceptions, two of these survived less than a year, but one (Valens) survived for nine years.

At one point, the golden-crowned sifaka was classified as one of the top twenty five most endangered primates in the world and considered to be one of the most endangered of all the lemurs, due to the animals' very small home range and the fact that this range was totally unprotected and highly vulnerable to slash and burn by local villagers and gold miners. The current conservation status of the golden-crowned sifaka is much more secure thanks to the establishment of a 20,000 ha reserve through the efforts of Conservation International and a Malagasy non-governmental organization, Association Fanamby. Ten percent of this area is protected.

In a sad twist of fate, it was thought that the female that Titus had been imported into the country with, Mesillina, might be closely related to him, so she (the only female in captivity) was taken from Titus and paired with another male, Agrippa. Poor Titus was left to live by himself. Although we originally had permits to import two more pairs of golden-crowned sifakas from Madagascar, this never happened, so Titus never had a prayer of being paired with a female golden-crowned sifaka.

However, he did have a few blissful months living with a Coquerel's sifaka female, Drusilla and a Diademed sifaka male, Romeo. He was successfully introduced to this odd couple in January 1995, and this spectacular mixed species group (representing all three of the recognized species of sifaka) lived together until August 1996, when Drusilla became unexpectedly aggressive towards Romeo. After Drusilla was removed, Romeo and Titus continued to live as a mixed species bachelor pair until January 2002, when they started squabbling. Fearing escalating aggression between the two males, they were separated, and Titus (and Romeo) lived the rest of their days alone.

There were several more attempts to introduce Titus to other species of lemurs so he would not have to live a solitary life, including an attempt in March 2004 to introduce him to a neighboring pair of mongoose lemurs, an attempt in December 2005 to introduce him to a male red-fronted lemur, and an attempt in January 2006 to introduce him to another golden-crowned sifaka male (Valens.) Alas, all these introductions ended in failure.

However, through all his years of living alone, Titus had many human admirers. Single animals get a lot of attention here, especially if they are as needy, as friendly, and as charming toward human attention as Titus was. Technicians would drop by his cage continually during the day to offer him a head scratch or a small treat. He never lacked for company!

In January 2008, a mass was discovered in Titus's abdomen; he went into surgery 31 January, 2008 and a large mass the size of a racquetball was removed from his abdomen. He recovered nicely and lived peacefully for almost a year in a large outdoor cage visited daily by a constant stream of friends, admirers, and well wishers.

If you would like to support the work done at the Duke Lemur Center, click here.

To read about Titus in the News and Observer, click here.

Duke Lemur Center says farewell to the last Golden-crowned sifaka in captivity

Titus, the last Golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) in captivity died. Titus was born in the wild in Madagascar in 1983. He came to the Duke Lemur Center in 1993, where his gentle nature made him a great favorite.

To the folks who work at Duke Lemur Center, every lemur, loris, and galogo matters. Even so, Titus stood out. Not only did he become the last of his kind in captivity at age 25, but his kind (Propithecus tattersalli) is highly endangered, occurring only in a tiny region in Madagascar - an island off the coast of Africa. This restricted distribution makes this sifaka particularly susceptible to habitat loss and local hunting pressure. The only golden-crowned sifaka in the world struggle to survive in an area about the size of Durham County.

And in Durham County, the final golden-crown in captivity lost his individual battle to survive, but only after a valiant effort by the Duke Lemur Center veterinary staff to give him a long and high quality life. He received individual attention daily for all of his 15 years at the DLC. His final days were filled with tender rubs under his arm (a favorite of his), gentle words softly spoken, and repeated attempts to tempt him to eat with special treats selected just for him by Bevan Clark, his primary Primate Technician.

Titus will be missed.

We will be posting memories from folks who knew him well and remember him with great fondness.

Duke Lemur Center - a bit more time for Titus, the last Golden-crowned sifaka

Tuesday morning it looked like Titus, Duke Lemur Center's last remaining Golden-crowned sifaka (Propithicus tattersalli) would need to be put down. Titus is 25 years old. That is aged for a sifaka, and he had undergone major surgery a little over a year ago to remove a large tumor. The tumor was back, and Titus has stopped eating. He sat hunched in his personal habitat - quiet, listless.

Titus is special to everyone at the Duke Lemur Center. He was wild-caught in 1993. The DLC has been his home the last 15 years. Like most lemurs, Golden-crowns are social. They usually live in groups - with five being the average group size. But Golden-crown sifaka are highly endangered. Titus is the last of his kind in captivity, and frighteningly few remain in the wild.

This is one thing that makes Titus important. His personality was another. As a social creature, who is the last of his kind in captivity, Titus was allowed more human contact than usual. We try to help our animals maintain their wild natures. They are not pets. But they are loved. And Titus is easy to love.

Once the decision was made that Tuesday would need to be Titus's last day, everyone trooped in one by one to say good-bye. That day it would be okay, even encouraged to scratch Titus under his arm - his favorite kind of contact. Although he was clearly ailing, he raised that little arm and seemed content as the people who had cared for him daily for 15 years said good-bye. There was not a dry eye in the house.

But this story has a happy ending - for the time being. The last Golden-crowned sifaka in captivity got a bit more time. The Duke Lemur Center vets decided it was in Titus's best interest to try removing the new tumor - despite his advanced age and frail condition. It worked. Titus survived the operation, woke from the anesthesia, and is resting comfortably. We know his time is limited. He is old. He is ill. But for today, Titus has a bit more time.