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Participation Guide for the World Lemur Festival

Here, we share event ideas and easy ways that zoos, conservation organizations, and individuals can participate in the World Lemur Festival and World Lemur Day.

Participation Guides on this Page

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For Zoos

Engage your entire zoo team in the World Lemur Festival to have the most impact. Become a supporting zoo member to maximize your impact for lemurs!

Marketing

View our social media guide for messaging tips about lemurs and their conservation.

If you are planning a live or virtual event, email us to have your event added to the World Lemur Festival event calendar. Send us any links or graphics we can use to promote your event on social media. And, be sure to promote your event on your zoo’s social media channels to bring a larger audience!

Education

Lemurs! card game from the Lemur Conservation Network

Zoos holding events for the World Lemur Festival are eligible to receive one box of Lemurs! card games from the Lemur Conservation Network.

Contact us to let us know about your event so we can add it to our calendar and send you a card box.

Your education staff could hold an event in person or present virtual activities:

  • Present instructional videos on lemur themed crafts
  • Post activity sheets and coloring pages that relate to lemurs and Madagascar
  • Suggest movie and book recommendations that provide further learning about lemurs. See our Lemur Virtual Film Festival for ideas.
  • Partner with your local school or district to host virtual presentations with K-12 classes focused on lemurs. These presentations can align with your states standards and be directed for each grade focusing on biology, ecology, or other related subjects. Topics can range from lemur anatomy to evolutionary adaptations. This will expose the students to your organization in lieu of field trips.

Animal and Conservation Experts

  • Meet a Keeper. Host a virtual presentation via Zoom or Facebook live to present and share your work with the lemurs you have on exhibit. Or, hold a special lemur keeper talk in their exhibit.
  • Zoo Keeper/Conservationist Q & A. Use social media to host question and answer interaction. This type of event does not have to be hosted live and can take place over several days.
  • Panel Discussion on Zoom. Hold lemur themed webinars, presentations, or virtual happy hours hosted by multiple professionals at your organization or other LCN member groups.
  • Fundraise and donate to conservation organizations and research groups. Work with your local AAZK Chapters or internal interest groups to hold raffles, auctions, or other fundraising ideas.
  • Information Table. Place an information table about lemurs, Madagascar, and conservation near the lemur exhibit to help visitors learn about lemurs and World Lemur Day.

For Conservation Members

  • Hold an event with your community in Madagascar. If you need extra funding for your event, let us know. Often, we raise enough money through our own World Lemur Festival fundraising to give small donations to support events in Madagascar.
  • Hold a Facebook fundraiser for the week leading up to World Lemur Day. People are more motivated to donate on special occasions, and when you explain the specific project that the fundraiser will support.
  • Send an email to your followers on World Lemur Day to highlight your work and ask for donations.
  • Tell stories and photos of your work on social media. Share your successes, what conservation work you are doing right now, what your project sites are like, and photos of lemur species in your region.
  • Ask your followers to share their lemur photos and what they love about lemurs on social media.

For Individuals

  • Become an individual member to maximize your impact for lemurs!
  • Hold a Facebook fundraiser for an LCN member organization the week leading up to World Lemur Day. Donate to your fundraiser first, so your friends and family know you are committed.
  • Share your photos of lemurs at your local zoo or from your Madagascar travel. Include information about each lemur, what you love about them, or memories from your trip.
  • Use Canva to create informational graphics about lemurs to share. Highlight your favorite lemur species or show a variety of species in photos or illustrations. 
  • Hold an event in your community. Have a lemur-themed happy hour, costume party, film screening, or schedule a virtual or in-person school visit to teach kids about lemurs! Or, just go to work or walk around your town in a lemur costume! 😉

For Educators

Plan a class or week of classes using lemurs and Madagascar as inspiration! Explore Madagascar and learn about map-making with our Google Earth tour; learn to track animal behavior with our lemur ethogram; watch and discuss a documentary about Madagascar; or create some art inspired by lemurs!

View and Download Free Teaching Resources

For Libraries

Are you looking for October displays and activities that don’t feature autumn or Halloween? Do you have an endcap to fill for a couple weeks? World Lemur Day is on October 29, 2021 and the Lemur Conservation Network invites you to join in and celebrate World Lemur Festival (WLF) in the weeks around this day. 

In addition to being incredibly cute and awesome, lemurs face some major conservation battles. The World Lemur Festival helps inspire people to love lemurs and work together to save them. There are a number of ways libraries can participate. Many are outlined below. Find more resources for World Lemur Day.

  • Create a display with books about lemurs, Madagascar, primates, and conservation, with signage about the World Lemur Festival. If in the kids section, include picture books about primates and lemurs as well as kids books featuring lemurs. If in a more general area of your library, you can include a variety of books including travel, fiction, kids books, science books, picture books, and more. Post a table tent about World Lemur Day and Madagascar on the table, with a link to the Learn page on our website so people can learn more about lemurs.
  • Have a lemur-themed story time or activity session. Our volunteer Meghan Bohn has focused on primates and lemurs for the Animal Explorers Club at Galesburg Public Library both last year and this year. 
  • Collaborate with a member of the Lemur Conservation Network for an in-person or virtual presentation. Find an organization to work with
  • Share some of your lemur and Madagascar books on your library’s social media page.

More Virtual Event Ideas

  • Facebook Live Video Series. Connect with a member organization located near you to create a series of Facebook Live videos about lemurs and Madagascar. If you work at a zoo, some of the videos could feature the zoo’s lemur keepers and the zoo’s lemurs. And, videos could feature a representative of a member organization speaking about their lemur conservation work in Madagascar.
  • Highlight a different species of lemur on your social media each day. Feature species at your organization or those that you may support through conservation initiatives.
  • Trivia with Q and A on Zoom. Hosting a virtual trivia event is a great way to get your audience to show off their knowledge of lemurs. You can involve your zookeepers or other experts to talk about lemurs and other animals from Madagascar at your zoo.
  • Teach a virtual class. Connect with a school you know to teach students about lemurs! Find a member organization to collaborate with if you need help. Or, use SkypeAScientist to find a scientist to talk about lemurs, primates, evolution, or conservation.