Lemurs - Preparing for breeding

If Tolkien looks hopeful (and remarkably appealing,) it's because he and Medusa are preparing to be prospective mates at the Philadelphia Zoo. For endangered species, such as aye-aye, keeping the gene pool vital is critical. So the Duke Lemur Center collaborates with other approved institutions around the world to carefully and purposefully breed these precious biological treasures. The breeding programs for each species are managed by a Species Survival Plan (SSP), coordinated through the American Zoological Association, which assures that genetic lines are kept viable (And you thought getting your dates past your parents was rough!)



Before Medusa and Tolkien can travel to their "romantic" rendezvous, they are receiving complete physicals by our Veterinary Department. When they reach Philadelphia, they will be in quarantine for a month (typical for all zoo to zoo shipments) to assure that no undetected diseases slip from one institution to the next.

The Species Survival Plans work both ways for the Lemur Center. June Bug, a Pygmy slow loris, just came to the Lemur Center to breed. June Bug is huge! As Lemur Veterinarian, Bobby Schoppler said, "It's like we got two for the price of one!" June Bug weighs considerably more than the average Pygmy slow loris, so Duke Lemur Center will work with her to get that weight down a bit - for her health's sake.

Then sometime in the next year or two, we should be reporting about brand new aye-aye and Pygmy slow loris infants. Good things - worth waiting for!

Strange friends at Duke Lemur Center

Merlin the aye-aye and Pima the Pygmy slow loris share some grub.

Aye-aye are lemurs found only on Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. Pygmy slow lorises are from Asia. So normally their paths don't cross, but at Duke Lemur Center they have turned out to be compatible room mates. Both are nocturnal. Both enjoy a tasty grub worm, and both are gently natured. So some companionable relationships have developed.

The aye-aye and lorises have been seen curled up together in the same nest box, sharing a meal, and exploring their environs together. The companionship is enrichment for both species, and aye-aye especially need enrichment as they are highly intelligent.

Duke Lemur Center and an Arctic Front

Medusa - safe and warm inside the Duke Lemur Center

We've talked about how our lemurs spend the winter - safe and warm inside. We talked about how our Primate Technicians, who spend their days making certain the lemurs are healthy, well-fed, and housed in clean and safe environments, spend extra time making sure the winter enclosures are interesting and enriched.

But what about when it is really cold, like the last few days in North Carolina, when an Arctic Front has pushed through - what happens then? First, whenever the temperature drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, there are techs here day and night. The techs take turns being on call, so no one has to be on call more than one night. That way the people here are always awake and alert. In addition, the maintenance personnel adds an extra second and third shift to be on call in case of mechanical problems. Security also adds extra patrols to be sure both the techs and the animals are safe.

In addition to the regular heating system, portable kerosene furnaces are checked and ready to swing into action if needed, and Duke has created a state-of-the-art heating and cooling system that can move seamlessly between natural gas and propane, so the Lemur Center can switch to whichever is needed. The Lemur Center also has a back-up generator in case the power goes out.

Like school children, the lemurs stay inside until the daytime temperature reaches a certain level. For lemurs that is 41 degrees Fahrenheit. At 41 degrees, the animals can go into their yards for a good romp in the outdoors.

Greetings from the DLC Research Department

The force with which it's limbs strike the ground are measured as an aye-aye runs across a pressure plate. (Photo by David Haring)

It seems that we in the research department are a bit behind the times in blog world, as I see that the education and conservation departments are already up and running, illuminating their forks of our trifocal mission at the Duke Lemur Center. We will not be left behind, I say! And so, I would like to introduce Research at the Duke Lemur Center. I am often asked why we do research on these animals and what types of research we do. First things first, which means addressing the first question of why we do research on lemurs. How will that help their plight in the wild and their survival in captivity.

The use of captive animals for scientific research ultimately helps conservation efforts of wild populations in a number of ways. It stands to reason that the more we can learn about endangered species, the better our chances of conserving them. By studying the biology of these animals in areas such as behavior, reproduction, morphology, physiology, ontogeny, and genetics in a controlled environment, we can better define species and subspecies status, better quantify their ecological requirements, better understand their interactions with other species, and better determine a conservation plan given the animals and environment we have to work with. In addition, we do a number of research projects that focus on animal husbandry and care so that we can keep our animals happy and healthy here in Durham.

A thermographic image of an aye-aye eating an egg shows temperature variation. Look at his hot ears! (Photo by Andrew Cunningham.)

The Duke Lemur Center houses the largest and most diverse captive prosimian colony in the world, and these animals are used by investigators both at Duke and other national and international academic institutions for both species-specific and comparative research. Only non-invasive research is allowed at our facility, and all projects must be approved by both the DLC Research Committee and the Duke University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), both of which contain veterinary oversight, before any research can begin. By maintaining these animals at the Duke Lemur Center and allowing experts in the US and international scientific communities to carry out studies of the animals in our colony, we take an important step toward the long-term goal of lemur conservation. Stay tuned for descriptions of the projects we are working on here at the DLC!

A researcher observes a ring-tailed lemur. A ring-tailed lemur observes a researcher. (Photo by David Haring)

Lemur Lessons : Learning to Forage

A young aye-aye learns to forage by watching it's elder eat.
Photo by David Haring, Duke Lemur Center Photographer and Registrar

Duke Lemur Center has three foci: conservation, research, and education, and humans aren't the only ones learning here. Ichabod, (See the earlier post about Ichabod) the young aye-aye born at the Duke Lemur Center this past summer, is still nursing, but he is watching Ardrey, his mother, eat. That is how he will learn both what to eat and how to eat it.

The next step will be stealing mom's food, and that is okay among aye-aye. In fact, even unrelated aye-aye will allow young to take food from them. This leniency continues into the young aye-aye's teen-aged years.

So Ichabod has plenty of time to learn the intricacies of tap foraging - the process by which aye-aye tap branches listening for hollow spots that may contain tasty insects. When those large ears pick up the hollow sound, an aye-aye can use it's incisors to pierce the wood and reach in with its specially designed digit to scoop out bugs or other taste treats.

If you would like to learn more about Duke Lemur Center's efforts in conservation, research, and education or you would like to support this work, click here.