By Janice Kalin | Project Leader
Thank you for your support and interest in helping to give more lemurs access to natural habitats at the Duke Lemur Center. Thanks to your generous donation, we have raised more than 80% of our goal to complete this project to provide more forest for our lemurs.
As mentioned, 75% of the 80 acres at the Duke Lemur Center is currently fenced to allow lemurs to safely live in large tracts of forests like wild lemurs. This project will provide another 5.8 acres for an additional protected area for our lemurs to live in the forest. The plan is to release a small family of Coquerel’s Sifakas and family of Crowned Lemurs into this habitat.
As mentioned in our last update, the weather in North Carolina has been uncharacteristically cold this year. Our lemurs typically enjoy 8-9 months in the forests each year. In order to keep our lemurs safe and warm, they must stay inside when it is below 45 degrees. In each of our habitats we do provide heated nest boxes just in case temperatures quickly drop and to provide comfort to our animals who prefer a cozy area at night. Due to the cold winter, the electrical work to the nest boxes was delayed. This electrical work should be completed in about two weeks.
Once the electrical work is complete the Coquerel’s Sifakas will be released into the enclosures. This is exciting news for the small little family which includes Euphemia, Thrax and Lucius. While this family has been patiently waiting, they have been invaluable researchers in a sleep study. They have been wearing fancy collars for Dr. Charlie Nuun to better understand the conservation and management implications of healthy sleep. Please read more about this fascinating study here.
The crowned lemur family will have to wait a little longer to join their sifaka companions in the forest. Tasherit, the crowned lemur matriarch is pregnant and will remain inside until after her babies are born. Pregnancy is always a welcome delay!
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