Today, we loaded up the kids, plus one friend and headed to the Duke Lemur Center. There we met up with our homeschool group of about 24 people. It was drizzling out, as the rain bands of Hurricane Matthew were approaching, but we all came ready.
First, they showed our whole group a video about the history of the Center and its inhabitants. I had told the kids about being courteous when they mentioned the inevitable. Unfortunately, it was my friend and I who snickered out-loud when the video said the founder of the center had "confirmed that lemurs had arrived on Madagascar 30 million years ago on a raft", that was too much. Was she there? Did she find 30 million year old lemur poop on a raft? How exactly did she confirm it? But I digress.
Due to the size of our group they broke us up into two groups. My sons chose to go with Miss Amanda's group, which left Chris and I alone with Amber. The facility is nicely laid out and landscaped. The incredible number and variety of lemurs is apparently unparalleled outside of Madagascar. It was interesting to learn how different many of the species were. Though we only got to see the animals in the cages, there were lemurs in the "wild" also, in multi-acre lots. With this information came two interesting stories of breakouts and recaptures. One group of lemurs were captured by the students of a nearby elementary school by leaving a trail of fruit into the library and shutting the door. The other was captured in a person's garage, that was quick enough upon seeing them, to close the door. We also learned that though they look cute and cuddly they are quite the opposite, one relative even has a poisonous bite.
Since the tour was all outside we were thankful the heavy rain held off till we were done. It is a very remarkable facility and well worth the trip to visit.
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