Lemur Communication

In my last lemur post we learned what makes a lemur a lemur. One of the biggest lemur traits has to do with scent- they have pointy moist noses, similar to your dogs at home, and they rely largely on smell for communication. Which differs from apes and monkeys but that is because lemurs communicate via scent. Lemurs can have scent glands on one or more of the following: head, feet, chest, wrists, hands, shoulders, and/or genitals which they useRead more
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“Target” click

One of my favorite duties as an Animal Keeper is training with the Ring Tailed Lemurs. We train many of the animals at the museum using operant conditioning. When I first started here, I was familiar with training, I used positive reinforcement for several animals at my previous job- a Serval, African Crested Porcupine, Binturong, several birds including large Macaws, a Raven, Crow, Hawks and Owls. African Crested Porcupine Even Rats- But it wasn’t until working here at the Museum that I really got intoRead more
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Trash anyone?

Anyone who has been in the animal keeping profession knows that part of the job includes the unfortunate task of pulling trash out of the animal exhibits. On some level it is expected that a random object will occasionally be found in an animal’s enclosure, due to a visitor accidentally dropping something and not being able to recover it (please don’t try to retrieve the item yourself!). However, we have noticed the amount of trash in the exhibits increase significantlyRead more
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What do they do when it’s cold?

Hi everybody! Now the time has come once again for the tank tops, flip flops and short shorts to get packed up again for the season (that’s okay, I don’t look so good in short shorts anyway).  The end of fall is gone and we’re officially into winter.  The weather has been remarkably warm for this time of year, but we’re past Thanksgiving have even knocked out the big holiday part of the year.  That’s right, the buy Mikey presentsRead more
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What makes a lemur a lemur?

In my last lemur post you learned the differences between them and other primates. But what makes a lemur a lemur and what exactly is a tooth comb? Or a grooming claw? Or a reflecting tapetum? Even though lemurs are endemic to Madagascar and the Comoros Islands they can be quite different amongst themselves. Lemurs come in all sizes from the 1 oz pygmy mouse lemur to the 15 lbs Indri and Diademed Sifaka lemurs.   Depending on the speciesRead more