Britt Keith hustled around the kitchen and out into the yard for fresh clippings like an anxious mother hurriedly packing her kids off to school. She gently stuffed a handful of sumac, sweetgum, and tulip poplar leaves into brown paper lunch sacks labeled “Izzy” and “Slausy,” then tore the bags open a bit because Sifakas aren’t big on problem- solving. Carrots, sweet potatoes, in-the-shell nuts and a few other special treats were poured into Ziplock bags.
In honor of World Lemur Day on Oct. 29, the Duke Lemur Center invited a virtual audience to brunch with the rare animals. On the menu: nuts and mixed greens. The morning feeding session took place at the research center housed in the Duke Forest, where – during the warm months of the year – lemurs bound through more than 80 acres of woods. Founded in 1966, the center is now home to more than 200 lemurs representing 14 different species, making it the most diverse colony of lemurs outside of Madagascar.
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A flexible diet may help leaf-eating lemurs resist deforestation, researchers report.
A new study sequencing the genome of four species of sifakas, a genus of lemurs found only in Madagascar’s forests, reveals that these animals’ taste for leaves runs all the way to their genes, which are also more diverse than expected for an endangered species.
Sifakas are folivores, meaning that the bulk of their diet is composed of leaves. Leaves can be difficult to digest and full of toxic compounds meant to prevent them from being eaten. Unlike our carefully selected spinach, tree leaves also don’t taste great, and are not very nutritious.