Internet Info 1994 March/Internet Info CD-ROM (Walnut Creek) (March 1994).iso/answers/alt/lemur-faq/part5

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From: [e-mail] (Joel Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.lemurs,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.fan.lemurs: Frinkquently Asked Questions (Part 5 of 6, Lemur Captive Breeding Programs)
Followup-To: alt.fan.lemurs
Date: 10 Apr 1994 19:47:24 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C., USA
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Summary: This posting contains useful information about the captive breeding programs practiced by the Duke University Primate Center (among others), Adopt-A-Lemur, and where you can get lemur souvenirs.
Originator: [e-mail]
Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu alt.fan.lemurs:2600 alt.answers:2387 news.answers:17878

Archive-name: lemur-faq/part5
Alt-fan-lemurs-archive-name: lemur-faq/part5
Last-modified: 1993/07/6
Version: 3.0

    Official USENET Alt.Fan.Lemurs Frinkquently Asked Questions
          Part 5 of 6  -- Lemur Captive Breeding Programs

This section of the FAQ deals with the Duke University Primate Center,
the largest population of Lemurs outside their native island of Madagas-
car.  Make sure to read the sections (below) about tours, souvenirs, and
the all-important Adopt-A-Lemur program.  DUPC needs funds to continue
and extend its work and you can help.  It also discusses what little we
know about the programs carried on by the Jersey Zoo in the Channel
Islands of the United Kingdom.

------------------------------

                           The Questions

(1) What IS the Duke University Primate Center?
(2) What programs take place at DUPC?  What animals live there?
(3) What other programs take place at DUPC?
(4) Can I donate money to DUPC?
(5) How do I go about arranging a tour of the Primate Center?
(6) What is the mailing address of the Duke University Primate
     Center?
(7) What is Adopt-A-Lemur?
(8) Can I buy DUPC souvenirs through the mail?
(9) What if I want to donate a LOT of money?
(10) Is anyone else engaged in breeding lemurs to save them from
     extinction?


------------------------------

                            The Answers

(1) What IS the Duke University Primate Center?

The Duke University Primate Center (DUPC) began in 1958 as the Center
for Prosimian Biology at Yale University.  In 1966, the Yale colony was
relocated to North Carolina and moved into its present buildings in
1968.

From 1968 to 1973, Dr. John Buettner-Janusch served as Director and
research was oriented toward behavior, genetics, and biochemistry. The
colony grew to about 250 animals representing 10 species during this
time.  Several interim Directors served from 1973 to 1977.

In 1977, Dr. Elwyn L. Simons became the Director.  He expanded the scope
of research to include conservation and the study of fossils.  He also
increased the educational opportunities and training for both under-
graduate and graduate students.  Under his leadership the colony grew to
more than 700 animals representing 33 species and subspecies.  Recent
years have seen the overall size of the colony decrease to the current
540 animals representing 29 species and subspecies (see below).

On May 15, 1991, Dr. Kenneth E. Glander became the Director of the DUPC
and Dr. Simons took on the role of Scientific Director.  As Scientific
Director, Simons will concentrate on teaching, research, and the
management of the Center's collaborative programs with Madagascar.
Glander intends to build the Primate Center's programs around the issue
of biological diversity.  He will also expand the environmental educa-
tion opportunities to include primary and secondary school science
teachers.

Education of the public is equally important for the future of these
endangered primates.  Outreach programs aimed at increasing environmen-
tal awareness of elementary and secondary school children could be
developed and disseminated via a public exhibit hall and classroom space
which would be built outside the gates of the Center to prevent disrup-
tion of the captive breeding and conservation programs.  The pavilion
area would serve as a staging area for tours of the animal colony and
presentation areas for exhibits as well as providing modest office space
for staff and volunteers involved in educational and promotional ac-
tivities.

One of the missions of the Primate Center is to assist in international
efforts to prevent the extinction of Madagascar's most endangered
primates.

The Primate Center accomplishes this through:

      * behavioral and ecological research
      * international conservation programs
      * in-country training programs
      * captive breeding

The Center is funded by the National Science Foundation, Duke Univer-
sity, and private donations.

------------------------------

(2) What programs take place at DUPC?  What animals live there?

The DUPC primate collection consists only of prosimians. There are three
groups of living prosimians:

* the lemurs of Madagascar
* the lorises and galagos of Asia and Africa
* the tarsiers of certain East Asian islands (although these animals are
  being placed by some in taxonomic categories closer to apes, monkeys,
  and humans.)

The majority of the animals housed in the DUPC colony are lemurs from
Madagascar.  Lemurs have lived isolated on their island home located off
the southeast coast of Africa for more than 50 million years.

In recent years the forests of Madagascar, once teeming with lemurs,
have been reduced by more than 90% as a result of increased human
population pressure. Lemur populations in the wild are rapidly declin-
ing.  As human population expands, increased need of food causes in-
tensified hunting of lemurs.  Also, the lemurs' habitat is destroyed by
agricultural "slash and burn" practices. The result is that many lemur
species are threatened with extinction.

A principal objective of the Primate Center continues to be the captive
breeding of endangered prosimians.  In order to achieve that goal,
efforts are being made to reduce the size of the Primate Center's colony
so that it can better utilize the limited resources by concentrating on
the most highly endangered species.

In 1987, World Wildlife International announced that the Malagasy lemurs
are the most gravely endangered group of primates in the world.  Follow-
ing this declaration, special- ists from Madagascar, Europe, and America
met and agreed that the genetic diversity of the following 10 prosimians
was the most severely threatened:


*   1) the Lake Alaotra bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus alaotrensis)
  + 2) the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus)
    3) the greater bamboo lemur (Hapalemur simus)
*   4) the blue-eyed lemur (Lemur macaco flavifrons)
* + 5) the red-ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata rubra)
* + 6) the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascarensis)
*   7) the crowned sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi coronatus)
* + 8) the golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli)
  + 9) the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)
*  10) the mongoose lemur (Lemur mongoz)

The DUPC currently holds seven of these species (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
10) as indicated by asterixes.

The Center's current captive breeding efforts are focused on saving 5 of
these 10 most endangered species of lemurs, (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 8, 9) as
indicated by plus signs.  The plight of these species is characterized
by the fact that there are probably fewer than 100 golden bamboo lemurs
left in the wild.  This is an emergency situation if DUPC is to preserve
the biological diversity necessary for a viable captive breeding
program.  The aye-aye may be in similar difficulty. The choice of these
five species is not haphazard but rather based on the fact that the
Primate Center has successfully maintained and bred closely related
species and the fact that the need for preserving genetic diversity in
these five species appears to be greatest.

The Primate Center has both diurnal (day-time active) and nocturnal
(nighttime active) prosimians.

Diurnal animals are housed in outdoor runs or in Natural Habitat
Enclosures encompassing large tracts of the Duke Forest.  All animals
housed outdoors have heated winter sleeping quarters.  These enclosures
are vital for future planned reintroduction of the lemurs to their
native habitats.  Here, animals have the opportunity to learn how to
find their own food, avoid predation, and roam in sufficient space to
form natural social groupings.  65 acres of rich Duke Forest habitat
offer a unique opportunity for study in a natural setting.

A new Nocturnal Animal Building houses most of the night-time active
prosimians.  This recent addition to the Center was designed to control
lighting, humidity, and temperature, critical for the well-being of
these animals.

Approximately 85% of the DUPC colony is captive-bred.  No other zoo or
institution has successfully bred so many different prosimian species.

------------------------------

(3) What other programs take place at DUPC?

Fossils:

Another important and unique aspect of the Primate Center is its
collection of fossil primates representing prosimians, monkeys, apes,
and other mammals.  The collection consists of more than 10,000 fossils
ranging in age from less than 1,000 years to more than 60 million years
old.

Housing both living and fossil primates in the same center is sig-
nificant because the surviving prosimians are often called  "living
fossils," providing clues about the Earth's past environments.

International extension programs in Madagascar:

DUPC promotes international relations and cooperation through research,
education, and conservation programs. Primate Center staff are assisting
the Malagasy government to reopen Parc Ivoloina as a zoological and
botanical conservation center.  The joint goal of the park project is to
increase the Malagasy people's awareness of the importance of conserva-
tion through education, thereby making the native population cognizant
of the unique flora and fauna of their island.

------------------------------

(4) Can I donate money to DUPC?

Donations are gratefully accepted by the Duke University Primate Center.
The address to send them to is DUPC, 3705 Erwin Road, Durham NC 27705.
If you like, ask them to put you on their mailing list and send you
their newsletter.

------------------------------

(5) How do I go about arranging a tour of the Primate Center?

The Primate Center is located at 3705 Erwin Road, Durham, North Caro-
lina. Durham is found on any road map of North Carolina, and you can buy
a Durham street map when you get there.  (It's in the big Duke Forest
area that you get to off Routes 15-501 and 751.)

Admission costs to the Primate Center are as follows:

      Adult  $5.00
      Child (12 and under)  $2.50
      Senior Citizen  $2.50
      Duke student  $3.00

The Primate Center is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.  You can't just show up; you MUST
make an appointment.  The number to call is [phone].

The tour is well worth the trip to Durham and the money.  The lemurs are
just as curious about humans as humans are about them and the experience
of wandering from enclosure to enclosure is eerily like being studied
back.  You'll get to meet Blue Devil, the first aye-aye born in the
Western Hemisphere, as well as the sifakas so clever that the DUPC
people had to put an extra bolt on the outside of their door to keep
them from jimmying the lock and escaping.  The lemurs are wonderful
little animals!  Go see them.

------------------------------

(6) What is the mailing address of the Duke University Primate Center?

Duke University Primate Center
3705 Erwin Road
Durham, NC 27705
[phone] or [phone]

------------------------------

(7) What is Adopt-A-Lemur?

You'll hear a lot about Adopt-A-Lemur on alt.fan.lemurs.  Adopt-a-lemur
is a means by which friends of DUPC can donate $50, $100, or $125 to the
Center and "adopt" one of the lemurs, receiving letters and photos and
other information about the lemur every six to eight weeks for a year.
So far, over ten lemurs have been adopted because of alt.fan.lemurs,
either by the periodic fund drives where we collect money and jointly
adopt lemurs, or by individuals contributing enough at one fell swoop to
adopt one or more themselves.  Bob Smart even adopted a mated pair of
ringtails as a wedding gift for a couple of lemur-loving newlyweds.

If you would like to contribute financially to the programs of the
Duke University Primate Center, you can!  While the $2,000 needed to
equip out an enclosure for a mated couple may be beyond the range of
most people, there is an Adopt-A-Lemur program that allows one to
make a difference at an affordable price.  The following information
is quoted verbatim from a flyer made available to the public by DUPC.

>                       Adopt-A-Lemur
>
>$50: Greater and lesser mouse lemurs, dwarf lemur, loris,
>      bushbaby, gentle bamboo lemur
>
>$100: Black and white, red ruffed, ring tail, brown, mongoose,
>      crowned, blue-eyed, and black lemurs, red-bellied
>
>$125: Aye-aye, sifaka
>
>Your adoption will help pay for a lemur's feeding and care for
>one year.  Because of the importance of our animals to interna-
>tional conservation efforts, we take special care in providing
>them with special diets.  In addition, your fee helps pay for
>veterinary services.
>
>In recognition of your contribution, you will receive an
>adoption certificate, a picture and regular information on your
>animal, as well as the Primate Center's triannual newsletter.
>You will also be provided with a visitor's pass, entitling you
>to visit the Center annually at no charge.
>
>For additional information, contact: Carol Holman (919) 489-
>3364.  Duke University Primate Center, 3705 Erwin Road, Durham
>NC 27705.

A fund drive is always going on alt.fan.lemurs to collect money to
jointly adopt lemurs.  If you'd be interested in donating at least $10
to a lemur adoption, send email to [e-mail] to find
out how.

------------------------------

(8) Can I buy DUPC souvenirs through the mail?

The following is a list of souvenir items available from the Duke
University Primate Center.  The poster implies no involvement,
financial or otherwise, with DUPC.  The order form below is taken
directly from a form supplied to the public by the DUPC.

>Primate Center Order Form
>
>When ordering shirts, please indicate size (Adult S/M/L/XL
>Child S/M/L) and color.  DUPC will try to accomodate your color
>preferences.  NOTE:  Only the Aye-Aye shirt is available in
>childs' sizes.  The others are only available in adult sizes.
>
>Front-design t-shirts, $10 each:
>      Aye-Aye; Tarsier; Black and White Ruffed Lemur
>
>Pocket t-shirt, $12 each:
>      Sifaka
>
>Baseball caps with DUPC patch, $10 each:
>      White, Duke Blue
>
>DUPC Patch, $2
>
>Posters, $10 each:
>      Lemurs of Madagascar by Stephen Nash; Lemur Chart; "Crea-
>      tures of the Dark - Nocturnal Prosimian Conference, June
>      9 to 13, 1993"
>
>Note Cards (pack of 10) featuring sketches of lemurs, $5 each:
>      Sifaka; Red-Bellied Lemur; Slow loris
>
>Mixed set of note cards (4 of each type above), $6 each.
>
>Photographs, $1 each:
>      Golden Crowned Lemur; Golden Crowned Lemur (close-up);
>      Bamboo Lemur; Bamboo Lemur and baby; Ring-tailed lemur;
>      Mongoose Lemur; Blue Devil the baby Aye-Aye
>
>When sending orders, include $2.50 for shipping and handling.
>
>Send orders to:
>      Duke University Primate Center
>      3705 Erwin Road
>      Durham, NC 27705
>
>Their phone number is [phone].

The money earned from the souvenirs goes to support the lemurs.
Buy some!

---------------

(9) What if I want to donate a LOT of money?

Read on.

>From Comics Buyer's Guide #1007, Tony Isabella's column,
reprinted without permission:

>The keepers of the lemurs at the Duke University Primate Center
>in Durham NC are appealing to benefactors to pay for a $2000
>mating cage for two of their charges, as well as for other cages
>needed there.  More than 500 animals, representing 21 kinds of
>lemurs, live at the 28-acre habitat.
>
>The "honeymoon suite" is needed for Befriended and Is-A-Boy,
>members of an extremely rare lemur subspecies called the Lake
>Alaoutra Reed Lemur.  Is-A-Boy is so named because, as a young
>animal, he was thought to be a female and was named Isabelle.
>Luckily, he seems to be over this initial gender confusion.
>
>Good thing, too.  The subspecies, which originates from
>Madagascar, an island off the west shore of Africa, is threatened
>with extinction. Protective breeding may be the only hope for
>survival of the lemurs.  But, as with humans, creating just the
>right atmosphere is crucial to romantic success.
>
>Duke doesn't have a cage which will assure Befriended and
>Is-A-Boy will be comfortable when they attempt to make little
>lemurs.  Spacious accommodations are a must here.  These love
>monkeys will need a 13-foot wire cage, about the volume of a
>medium-sized room in a house.
>
>"Because it's made of frame metal, it's almost like being
>outdoors," a Center representative said.  "It will be full of
>branches and bamboo stalks and things." I'm getting excited just
>writing about it.  Add a hot tub and some Al Jarreau records, and
>I'll take my wife there for our anniversary.  Oh, baby!
>
>Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible donation to the
>Primate Center -- it needs other breeding cages for animals, as
>well -- should contact the keepers at [phone].  If a
>sponsor would like to spring for the entire cost of a cage, the
>Center will be happy to name the cage in said benefactor's honor.

---------------

(10) Is anyone else engaged in breeding lemurs to save them from
extinction?

You bet.  Many zoos are engaged in a joint breeding project coordinated
by a scientific body known as the Taxon Advisory Group.  The TAG keeps
track of lemur pedigrees and tries to ensure the most diverse gene pool
possible by matching lemurs from various zoos and centers.  Duke is the
_largest_ center, with the world's largest collection of prosimians
outside Madagascar, but it's by no means the only one.  Many American
zoos are involved in these programs.

European readers interested in participating in sponsorship of animals
or simply in visiting a breeding center are encouraged to contact Gerald
Durrell, the famous British zoologist, at the Jersey Wildlife Preserva-
tion Trust, located in the British Channel Islands.  We don't know much
about their programs, but the address to write to if you want to do the
research for us is:

          The Trust Secretary
          Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust
          Les Augres Manor
          Trinity, Jersey
          British Channel Islands

Let us know what you find out if you write them!

---------------

The final section of the FAQ is Part 6: Real Lemur Facts.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------
     This section of the FAQ adapted from publications of DUPC.
    Revised April 5, 1993 by Joel Furr, [e-mail]
     Revised July 6, 1993 by Joel Furr, [e-mail]