In July 2026, Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey, opened a new lemur exhibit featuring ring-tailed lemurs, red-ruffed lemurs, and brown-collared lemurs. The zoo is extending that commitment beyond its own gates by supporting lemur conservation in Madagascar through their Turtle Back Biodiversity Fund.
Turtle Back Zoo has awarded the Lemur Conservation Network two grants for conservation education projects in Madagascar. The grants support educational materials, World Lemur Festival activities, and a six-month teacher training program near Anja Community Reserve.
At a Glance
- Grants: Two grants totaling $10,900 for conservation education in Madagascar
- Geographic focus: Tsinjoarivo-Ambalaomby, Tsiafahy, Antananarivo, and Anja
- Partners: Teach for Madagascar, Sadabe, and ExplorerHome Madagascar
- Timing: World Lemur Festival events in October 2026 and a volunteer school placement from Fall 2026 through Spring 2027
Thank you to Turtle Back Zoo for recognizing that a lemur exhibit can be the beginning of a broader conservation relationship!
By supporting education in Madagascar, the zoo is helping connect the lemurs visitors meet in New Jersey with the people and places working to protect them in the wild.
Funded Conservation Education Activities
There is a significant need for conservation education about lemurs in Madagascar. Many children in both urban and rural areas have never seen a lemur in the wild, and schools often have few materials about Madagascar’s biodiversity.
Together, these two grants support conservation education across Madagascar, combining classroom materials, community events, teacher training, and longer-term support for schools near Anja Community Reserve.
Resources for Classrooms and Communities
Posters
LCN is creating and printing new posters to use alongside its Lemurs card game. Past World Lemur Festival facilitators reported that children engage particularly well with storybooks, while teachers value posters that can remain on display in classrooms. Posters also give teachers a visual tool to introduce lessons and activities before students begin playing the card game.
Storybooks
Through this project, LCN purchased 40 sets of story and activity books about protecting Madagascar’s environment, created by Teach for Madagascar’s Diary Nofy program. Each set includes six bilingual storybooks in Malagasy and French, an activity book, and audio recordings. Each purchased set also helps Teach for Madagascar distribute three additional sets to primary schools across Madagascar, multiplying the reach of the investment.
Learning Events with Schools and Communities
Two School workshops in Antananarivo
LCN held workshops with students at two schools in Madagascar’s capital city in March and April 2026.
Three World Lemur Festival events in October
These include:
- A festival in Tsinjoarivo-Ambalaomby with Sadabe, showcasing new school agroforestry gardens;
- A Lemur Escape Game near Antananarivo with ExplorerHome Madagascar for 60 science club students; and
- A community celebration with two schools near Anja Community Reserve, led by the Teach for Madagascar volunteers.
Twice-Weekly Conservation Education Programs near Anja Reserve
As part of the six-month Teach for Madagascar volunteer placement, the two volunteers will run environmentally themed after-school conservation education sessions on most Wednesdays and Saturdays. They will read environmentally themed books, and hold activities using LCN’s Lemurs card game, the new posters, and other materials about Madagascar’s wildlife.
More About the Learning Events
World Lemur Festival in Tsinjoarivo: A Pilot School Agroforestry Program with Sadabe
With the NGO Sadabe, LCN is supporting a rural World Lemur Festival effort in Tsinjoarivo-Ambalaomby built around a “Planting Lemurs” pilot school model. The program combines education tools about diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) ecology and threats, two school agroforestry gardens that supply the canteen, and teacher training so that environmental education becomes part of everyday classroom teaching.
The heart of the project is “Varika Mamboly” (Lemurs who plant). It teaches 150 students and 8 teachers how lemurs disperse seeds and regenerate forests, then has students plant fruit trees in four school gardens. LCN and Sadabe are collaborating to hold a World Lemur Festival event in October 2026 which will showcase the gardens and celebrate lemurs with the community. Sadabe will provide logistical support and field coordination, and LCN team members will take part in the education sessions with the school.
World Lemur Festival near Antananarivo: A Lemur Escape Game with ExplorerHome
With the NGO ExplorerHome Madagascar, LCN is supporting an outdoor Lemur Escape Game for World Lemur Day on October 30, 2026. The activity reaches 60 young SciTia Club members from long-term partner schools in Tsiafahy and Ambohijanaka — students who, despite living in Madagascar, have mostly never seen a lemur or met an expert.
The program unfolds in three phases: two-hour mentorship sessions with Malagasy primatologists from the STEMSquad network; a guided field trip to Lemurs Park that becomes a first lemur encounter for most students; and, on October 31 in Tsiafahy, an outdoor escape game and treasure hunt using LCN resources, where teams apply what they learned about lemur habitats, diets, and behaviors. LCN’s Malagasy team is working with ExplorerHome to implement the mentorship programs and escape game, and joining the group for the field trip to Lemurs Park.
Teacher Training with 2 Schools near Anja Reserve
- Training: In August 2026, local LCN team members planned and conducted lemur education training for all Teach for Madagascar volunteers.
- Two Teach for Madagascar volunteers: Support for two volunteers to work with the two schools nearest to Anja Community Reserve.
The volunteers will serve during a six-month program from Fall 2026 through Spring 2027. They will live and work with teachers and students, helping strengthen teachers’ ability to deliver conservation education in the future. The goal is to build lasting local teaching skills, not to substitute for them.
The dedicated conservation education programming runs twice a week, using LCN’s Lemurs card game along with the new posters and books. That regular rhythm matters: returning to the same themes week after week lets students build on what they have learned and go deeper than any single session could.
The two schools near Anja receive the most intensive support, but the program’s reach extends across Madagascar. LCN trains all Teach for Madagascar volunteers in the 2026 cohort on lemurs and how to use LCN’s education resources, and every school in the cohort receives the Lemurs card game and posters.
Why Anja?
Anja Community Reserve is a community-run reserve in southern Madagascar and a stronghold for the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta). The reserve began in 1996, when local people in the nearby town of Ambalavao worked with WWF and Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment to create a protected area that would safeguard lemurs while generating income for the community.
Early in 2026, two teachers at the schools near Anja approached Teach for Madagascar directly, asking whether volunteers could help them strengthen their teaching methods and conservation education programs.
This is exactly the kind of local commitment that the Lemur Conservation Network is thrilled to encourage, with a six-month placement, plenty of resources, and a continued partnership.
The Partnership Behind this Teacher Training Program: Teach for Madagascar
Teach for Madagascar is an NGO registered in Madagascar that partners with organizations to deliver teacher training in rural schools across the island. Since 2020, it has worked with more than 100 associations and NGOs across 23 regions. LCN’s partnership with the organization began in 2023: we have sponsored volunteers in schools near conservation areas and provided the Lemurs card game and other education resources for every school in the program.
Importantly, Teach for Madagascar provides mid-project and end-of-project evaluations that help LCN see how its materials are used so we can improve when necessary. Its volunteers are local Malagasy college graduates in master’s degree programs. They receive local housing and a modest stipend during the six-month program.
How the Lemur Conservation Network is Expanding Conservation Education in Madagascar
LCN has worked to expand lemur conservation education in Madagascar since 2021. To date, LCN has:
- Created and distributed a lemur card game and other educational materials in the Malagasy language, supplying more than 150 card game sets to more than 45 conservation and education organizations across Madagascar.
- Supported teacher training through its partnership with Teach for Madagascar, sponsoring training for seven schools near conservation areas since 2023.
- Provided the Lemurs card game to more than 30 schools across Madagascar.
- Sponsored twelve World Lemur Festival events across Madagascar in 2025 and 2026, and served as a key organizer for a two-day 2025 festival event with four schools near Ankarafantsika National Park.
- Supported World Lemur Festival activities at all 15 schools in Teach for Madagascar’s 2025 cohort and at 8 schools in the 2026 cohort.
Growing our Capacity through our Partnership with the Turtle Back Zoo
These grants from the Turtle Back Zoo add new materials, events, and long-term school support to the Lemur Conservation Network’s strong foundation.
Thank you to Turtle Back Zoo for opening its new lemur exhibit and extending its conservation commitment to Madagascar! This is what meaningful support can look like when a zoo does not stop at its own gates: education for visitors is connected with education for students and teachers in the lemurs’ native home.
You Can Help, Too!
If your local zoo or aquarium opens a lemur exhibit, encourage it to support conservation in Madagascar as well. You can also support LCN’s education work by donating, becoming a supporting member, volunteering, visiting Madagascar responsibly, or exploring LCN’s organization directory.
World Lemur Day will take place on Friday, October 30, 2026, making October a natural time to learn about lemurs, attend a World Lemur Festival event, and take action for Madagascar wildlife conservation.