A Visit to the Duke Lemur Center

A few days before Christmas I had the opportunity to visit the Duke Lemur Center, which is an 80+ acre sanctuary with the largest population of endangered lemurs in the world. Dedicated to the conservation of the primates, as well as one of the top lemur research facilities around, I'd been wanting to take a tour of the Lemur Center ever since we moved to North Carolina, and I'm so glad I finally got to go!

We took the Lemurs Live basic tour, which started with an introductory presentation and video at the visitors center. It was both cute and educational, and we learned a lot of neat lemur facts.

After the intro, we got to visit the lemur enclosures. Our tour started in the nocturnal building, where they have the lemurs on a swapped schedule to think it's night during the day, which not only makes for better viewing for visitors, but makes it a lot easier for the caretakers.

Sadly, photos were tough in the low lighting, and I didn't get a single one that wasn't blurry. This is an aye-aye though, the ones with the crazy long middle fingers that they use to pull bugs out of holes in trees.

After the nocturnal building, we headed outside to the indoor/outdoor enclosures. There were two layers of fencing separating us from the lemurs, for apparently good reason....

The Coquerel's sifaka were in the inside section of their enclosures, and again, hard to photograph, this time due to the reflection on the glass.

Yes, we all had bare legs. It was in the high 70s just days before Christmas, a big change from the current polar vortex temps we have now!

Around the corner we found other lemurs in the outside enclosures. This was Presley, a Blue-eyed Black Lemur, and such a cutie!

All of the enclosures had lots of tree branches and things for them to perch on or swing from, even though they only spend about half of their time here. The other half of the time they're out roaming in the many-acre open space, however some species don't get along with each other, so they have to rotate who gets run of the open space throughout the day.

Photographing through the fencing was not easy though. I'd love to take their Walking with Lemurs tour sometime in the summer, where you get to go out in their open habitat, without fencing between you and the lemurs.

This guy's name was Seker, a Crowned Lemur. Although I think 'crazy eyes' might have been a better name!

The Black and White Ruffled Lemurs looked like little pointy faced pandas. I bet they're really soft, although all of the lemurs were quite stinky. Just another reason why they don't make good pets (you know, aside from the whole biting and being endangered thing). So pretty to look at though!

On the tour we got to see a bunch of different species of lemurs, and learn a bit about each one along the way, as well as ask questions. It would be a great tour for all ages, and a lot better than a traditional "zoo" experience, in my opinion.

Presley again, on the way back. Loved this little guy!

Of course, the majority of my photos really looked like this. Lots of tail and butt shots, haha!

On top of the fencing getting in my way, most of the lemurs were quite active, making it hard to get a clear shot.

However, at the end we got a real treat. The parking lot by the visitor's center was adjacent to the open space, and there happened to be some Ring-tailed Lemurs playing right by the fence.

I couldn't get too close, since the fence was electrified, but success, one photo without a fence in the way!



I wish I could have been in the open space with these cuties, but hopefully I'll get to visit again in the summer or fall when they are running the more photography-friendly tours.

Anyone else been trying to photograph animals lately? And aren't fences such a pain to shoot through?