As if you needed an excuse to celebrate lemurs and the Triangle’s best secret, today—October 25—is World Lemur Day, according to the internet, which has never lied to us.
The Duke Lemur Center has been around since 1966 and is currently home to the most lemurs in the world outside of Madagascar. Fourteen different lemur species live there.
“Every day is World Lemur Day for us,” says Greg Dye, the center’s executive director. The group held tours all day Friday and released a new PSA narrated by British comedian John Cleese. Despite the video asking for “cold, hard cash,” Dye says the day is mostly about raising awareness.
“Lemurs are the most endangered group of mammals on the planet,” Dye says. “To be a lemur means, one, you come from Madagascar, and two, you’re endangered.”
Some of the more than one hundred lemur species in the wild—there are fourteen at the center—are facing imminent extinction verdicts, while others can still be repopulated. That’s why Duke Lemur Center funds grants to Madagascar and researchers studying conservation efforts.
Even if you can’t make it to the Lemur Center this weekend, the lemurs will be hanging out all year round.
Photo courtesy of Duke Lemur Center.
Contact digital content manager Sara Pequeño at speqeuno@indyweek.com.
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