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!

Healthy Infants hold hope for lemurs

Shown above are ring-tailed lemur, Dorieus and her twins, Hibernia and Limerick. Yes, the twins were born on St. Patrick's Day. The twins are thriving. They spend a lot of time now riding jockey-style on mom's back. Erin, their primary Primate Technician, reports that they like to ride mom's back one above the other. If you only see one infant on Dorieus's back, its probably Limerick. He's the male and has been somewhat larger from the very beginning. But don't worry, Hibernia is still there. She just likes to retreat to the safety of riding on mother's stomach at times.

The twins are fitting right in with the rest of the troop. Recently, their older sister was seen grooming them. They are fortunate. Their mother is the high ranking female in their group, and ring-tails are a species where females are dominate. While life is full of challenges - especially for an endangered species - having a high-ranking mom adds a measure of security.

Duke Lemur Center's Breeding Program is being highly successful. Duke takes part in Species Survival Plans in coordination with the American Zoological Association to see that global efforts to preserve endangered species are maximally effective.