Aye-aye Pod

We are wrapping up our sifaka season with Malagasy scientist and conservationist, Mamy Razafitsalama. Mamy’s work in and around Ankarafantsika National Park, which serves as critical habitat for Coquerel’s sifakas in the wild, recently earned him the 2023 Whitley Award for conservation. We were so honored to hear about Mamy’s work studying sifakas in the wild and leading community-based conservation to protect the habitat Coquerel’s sifakas call home. 

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The post S3E7 – Keep Doing the Hard Work first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Sifakas are beautifully adapted to their environment. Dr. Elaine Guevara studies the source of these adaptations in the genetic code of sifakas (and other primates). Elaine shares how she traveled a complex path to get to Duke University and primate evolution – including a stop by the bug department. Now she’s a lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology, a researcher at the Duke Lemur Center, and a molecular primatologist! 

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The post S3E6 – Analyzing the Genomes first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Why don’t you see sifakas in most zoos across the US? How do we plan which sifaka have babies, and where those babies will live? DLC Animal Curator Britt Keith not only manages the sifakas living at the DLC, but also collaborates to manage captive Coquerel’s sifakas on an international scale, and she’s here to answer all of our sifaka population management questions. 

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The post S3E5 – Thinking Long-term first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Lemurs can really move. Like jumping-dozens-of-feet-from-tree-to-tree move. Like Tigger on a trampoline move. Dr. Gabe Yapuncich is a researcher at Duke University who is fascinated by this feat of lemur feet. He’s studied lemur bones and watched living lemurs launch off force plates at the Duke Lemur Center to understand how lemurs leap and hold themselves up in a tree, all to sort out the origins of these adaptations in our oldest primate relatives.  

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The post S3E4 – Bouncy… Like Tigger first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Ever wondered what a lemur that is adapted to conditions across the world in Madagascar eats in the forests of North Carolina? Dr. Lydia Greene wondered that very same thing, and in this interview, she shares new information, anecdotes, and insights she gained over years of studying Coquerel’s sifaka foraging habits at the Duke Lemur Center.  

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The post S3E3 – The Magic Hour first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Who better to open this season’s interviews than someone who has spent over a decade caring for Coquerel’s sifakas? Melanie Currie has been a primate technician (AKA animal keeper) at the Duke Lemur Center for 13 years, and we’re so excited to share her insights on these amazing animals with you. 

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The post S3E2 – A Lot of Time and Attention first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

Welcome to season three of Aye-aye Pod. We’re finally getting to the lemur that everyone falls in love with when they visit the Duke Lemur Center: sifakas! We’ll introduce you to these bouncy leaf-munchers who had a starring role in Zoboomafoo. We’ll also dig into their amazing diversity in Madagascar and explore the northwestern forests that Coquerel’s sifakas call home.  

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The post S3E1 – The Dancing Lemur first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

In the final episode of our season on ring-tailed lemurs, Matt and Megan are joined by biological anthropologist, paleontologist, and primatologist Dr. Laurie Godfrey. Laurie’s decades-long career searching for fossils and the causes of extinction has taken her across the entire island of Madagascar. In this interview she takes us on a journey through the history of the ring-tailed lemur’s native habitat in southern Madagascar and introduces us to some of the giant, extinct lemurs that also called the island home.

Links to learn more:

The post S2E5 – So Many Extinct Lemurs first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

If you’ve read Allison Jolly’s quintessential book Lords and Lemurs, or perhaps you’ve watched the Island of the Lemurs IMAX film, then you already know this week’s guest. Matt and Megan had the privilege of interviewing Professor Hantanirina Rasamimanana, or Hanta, as she prefers to be called. In addition to decades of studying ring-tailed lemurs in their natural habitat, Hanta has also been an incredible advocate for education and opportunities for Malagasy students, and we are honored to share a little bit about her work with you.

Links to learn more:

The post S2E4 – What We Have to Do first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.

What does it take to care for ring-tailed lemurs a world away from their native Madagascar? Lead Primate Technician Danielle Lynch joins us to discuss the complexities of caring for ring-tailed lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center.

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The post S2E3 – A Day in the Life first appeared on Duke Lemur Center.