QuikPost: lemur structure is expanding!

The lemur structure has been in limbo for a while since the first part was built. But this week the guys have come back to expand on it.  I don’t think any of the keepers really know what the finished product of this structure is supposed to look like, but it’s interesting watching the stages of construction, anyway!Read more
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Cassandra update

It’s about a month since I told you about Cassandra’s brush with death.  She continues to surprise us and is doing really well. Her illness and issues are a mystery. Even after repeated testing I fear we may never know what the initial problem was. I guess this is a good problem to have: that she appears to be fine now. We took her in last week to for repeat ultrasound and radiographs (x-rays). Everything looked good. Below are someRead more
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One week later: Cassandra the ring-tailed lemur

It’s Wednesday morning and I am heading out to the Red Wolf  SSP meeting (I’ll write about this next week, but click here to learn about last year’s  RWSSP masterplan meeting). Literally,  just one week ago, the keepers found Cassandra, our 16 year old ring-tailed lemur, in respiratory distress. Dr. Vanderford responded quickly and we decided to quickly head to the Duke Lemur Center. Things were so bad I didn’t even think of taking any photos. As always, the folksRead more
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Big Word of the Month: Fimicolous

My wife Sandy, also a lover of big science words, passed along this month’s feature. Fimicolous is an adjective formed from Latin roots that mean “to inhabit dung” and is used to describe organisms that live in, on, and with animal waste. As animal keepers we spend a lot of time dealing with poop and you might be amazed at all the living things that utilize poop. Perhaps most famous are the dung beetles, a group of scarab beetles thatRead more

How to catch a stuffed lemur

If you’ve seen our lemurs up in Explore the Wild, you might have noticed that they have collars on their necks. Here’s a good picture of Lycus the Ring Tailed lemur where you can clearly see his collar: Our Red Ruffed lemurs have them too, and both species wear them all the time. We put these collars on our lemurs for the same reason you put a collar on your dog: to help us get them back if they escape.Read more