In May, I spent a day at the Apenheul Primate Park, located about an hour by train from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Apenheul is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. It opened in 1971 as the first zoo in the world where monkeys roamed free in forested areas and could also interact with visitors. The Park Features 35 Primate Species and 7 Species of Lemurs At first, Apenheul housed solely South American primates like woolly monkeys, spider […]
The Importance of Zoos to Lemur Conservation
June is National Zoo and Aquarium Month in the United States. To celebrate, here are some reasons why zoos are vital to lemur conservation, and will play an ever-increasing role in the story of lemur conservation going forward.
A Chat with the National Zoo’s Primate Biologist, Becky Malinsky
Today, we chat with Becky Malinsky, Primate Biologist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. about her career as a primate keeper, and what it’s like to work with lemurs and other primates every day at the zoo. Can you tell us about your background and how you got started working at the National Zoo? I received my undergraduate degree in Anthropology from American University, but my passion for primates goes back as far as I can remember. I blame my […]
Zookeeper’s Notebook: Spotlight on Red-Bellied Lemurs
It’s been a while since I wrote about the lemurs of Howletts Wild Animal Park. Deserving of my attention however, are three male red-bellied lemurs, Teddy, Hamish and Angus, who share the walk-through with our black and white ruffed and crowned lemurs.
A Visit to the Lemur Conservation Foundation’s Lemur Reserve
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Lemur Conservation Foundation’s lemur reserve in Myakka City, Florida. LCF’s Zoological Manager Caitlin Kenney spoke with me about their work at the reserve and in Madagascar, and introduced me to their seriously adorable—and cheeky—lemurs. In this blog post, I’ll share photos of the reserve and the lemurs it houses, discuss LCF’s history, and explain how this reserve is helping to preserve these endangered primates. In a later blog post, I speak with […]
The Urban Bushmeat Trade in Madagascar: A New Emerging Threat
“What kind of meat have you eaten in the last three days?” “Have you ever eaten lemur meat?” “What kind of fadys (taboos) do you have against meat?” Imagine asking these questions almost 2,000 times to complete strangers across 21 cities and villages across Madagascar; if you’d been asked, what kind of response would you have given? If you happened to be one of the Malagasy interviewees that my research team spoke to in 2013, you might have said […]
Interview with Christoph Schwitzer: Part 2
Tell me a bit about the threats to biodiversity in Sahamalaza and the programs that respond to those threats? As everywhere, the main threat is habitat loss. In Sahamalaza, it’s slash-and-burn agriculture for rice cultivation. There’s the ever increasing threat of poaching as well. It was first primarily a threat for the blue-eyed black lemur because they are bigger and cathemeral so you could hunt them during the day. However, since we’ve been out there it’s become more and more […]
Interview with Christoph Schwitzer: Part 1
How did you get started working with lemurs in Madagascar? I was in the right room at the right time. I had just finished my PhD on lemurs in zoos. My PhD supervisor happened to be the vice president of an association that was conducting lemur research and conservation for lemurs in Madagascar. Cologne Zoo, where I did my PhD, was one of the founding members of the zoo consortium. Because its director was my PhD supervisor, I was taking […]