Duke University's 40-year-old home for primates is getting a makeover -- and a new name to match.
"Our new name, the Duke Lemur Center, reflects a refocusing of our scientific goals and overall mission," said Anne D. Yoder (http://dukenews.duke.edu/2006/04/yoderbio.html), the center's director since Jan. 1.
Although the center houses several types of prosimians, a suborder of primates, lemurs are the stars. "It makes sense to rename the center," Yoder said. "Its unique value lies with its collection of lemurs, which is the largest outside of their native Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa. We want to leverage this resource to benefit science."
The center will officially unveil its new name and scientific agenda on Saturday, April 29, at a celebration beginning at 5 p.m. at the center http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/04/lemurfacts.html.
To support the center's reinvigoration, Duke is allocating roughly $8 million to improve and expand its facilities. Three new buildings and associated habitats will provide the lemurs with even more natural living conditions and open new opportunities for scientists to study them.
Provost Peter Lange, the university's chief academic officer, said the new name and planned investment reflect "a new direction and sense of excitement for what already is one of the treasures of Duke University. People across North Carolina and beyond know the center as a wonderful place to visit and learn about lemurs. But it also is a unique learning resource for Duke students and others who work with the animals and get involved in research projects. Simultaneously, scientists working at the center have been broadening their agenda and pursuing a wide range of exciting research questions."
For years, scientists at the center focused primarily on understanding basic lemur biology and sorting out relationships among the various species. "Our new emphasis positions lemurs as models of primate biology and evolution," Yoder said. "Lemurs are complex creatures, and their unique biology, combined with their similarities to other primates, makes them an ideal model."
Lemurs are the closest living representatives of the kinds of animals from which humans evolved, Yoder said. "Humans are evolution's experiment on lemurs," she joked, adding that "by better understanding lemurs, we better understand ourselves."
In an important research direction, the center is partnering with the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (http://www.genomics.duke.edu/) to establish a Duke Lemur Genome Initiative. According to the institute's director, Huntington F. Willard, (http://mgm.duke.edu/faculty/willard/) one goal of the joint effort is to develop a toolkit of genome markers, distinctive segments of DNA that serve as landmarks for specific genes. To date, geneticists working on lemurs have used different markers, making it difficult to determine how different species are related to each other.
"With a standardized toolkit of genome markers, researchers should be able to greatly speed up efforts in working out the evolutionary trees of these animals," Willard said. "This will greatly assist lemur conservation efforts, as well as enhance understanding of our own evolution."
"This partnership with the Duke Lemur Center is consistent with our institute's broad efforts to explore the Genome Revolution and its consequences for life, health and society at large," he said.
Center biologists also will be able to use the genetic tools to develop active breeding programs to increase the total number of lemurs that call the center home, and to determine whether and how individual lemurs within a given population are related to each other. In the same way that DNA analysis is used to settle paternity suits, so can it be used to determine familial relationships with great accuracy. Such analyses, according to the scientists, are essential to avoid the effects of inbreeding and so maintain the genetic health of a species' population.
Across all of their research efforts, center scientists take care to ensure the animals are treated properly and studies are as noninvasive as possible. "The mantra of noninvasive research is 'do no harm," Yoder said. "For example, we take blood samples only as part of routine medical examinations." If the genome project needs blood for routine sampling, it will be stocked and used as needed. For animals without blood samples, DNA for genome analysis will be obtained using simple, safe cheek swabs.
"We must be sure to conduct our research carefully, but at the same time it is important that we study these animals," Yoder said. "They have a fascinating biology that can teach us a great deal."
For example, the genomes of brown lemurs will have different numbers of chromosomes, the structures that contain genes, with one animal having more or fewer genes than another. For brown lemurs, this trait has no harmful effects, resulting only in slight color variations. But in humans, many such chromosomal changes are highly deleterious. Center scientists hope that studying lemurs may provide insight into these conditions in humans.
Among other projects, cognitive behaviorist Elizabeth Brannon has been using lemurs to probe the connection between linguistic ability and conceptualizing numbers, running experiments in which lemurs interact with computer touch screens. The animals are not forced to participate. "They actually like to do these tasks," Yoder said. "One lemur, 'The Genius,' can't wait to start every day. He just loves it. Brannon's findings run counter to the dogma that lemurs are less intelligent than other primates. Everyone's surprised by these results."
Biologist Peter Klopfer and Andrew Krystal, director of the Duke Sleep Disorders Clinic, are studying hibernation in dwarf lemurs, which are the only primates to exhibit this trait. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is among the groups that may be interested in the results. The agency wants to learn whether it is possible to use hibernation mechanisms to prolong human sleep during long space flights.
The center also plans to strengthen its international connections. In one current partnership, its scientists are working with Jim Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute, based in Germany. "We're looking at male versus female morbidity and mortality in lemurs," Yoder said. "Among humans, males are healthier but have shorter life spans, whereas females are just the opposite. We want to know if this relates to social structures, such as the fact that most human societies are run by dominant males. Lemur society is matriarchal, with dominant females running things. So lemurs can provide a natural experiment for comparing with humans."
The scientists also are building on activities that were established during the center's previous incarnation, by choosing carefully among projects showing the greatest promise. At one time, the center supported efforts to reintroduce endangered lemurs to Madagascar, but Yoder said this approach now is considered a costly last resort. The scientists don't rule out future efforts, she said, but they are re-evaluating the overall value of the approach.
Instead, the center is directing considerable energies to building local conservation capacity in Madagascar, by training Malagasy scientists and conservation biologists. Among their efforts, center scientists are working with institutions such as Parc Ivoloina, a regional environmental education and training facility, to train foresters and students in lemur conservation and animal rescue. "This will give the people of Madagascar the tools they need to manage and mitigate their own environmental challenges," Yoder said. Center scientists also are working with a new veterinary school in Madagascar. The Duke scientists plan to bring in specialist scholars to train Malagasy in advanced techniques, and their ultimate goal is to establish an exchange program.
The genetic toolkit to be built as part of the Duke Lemur Genome Initiative is one of the resources the center will be providing to support conservation efforts. Using the markers, scientists in various areas will be able to make genetic comparisons of different wild populations and their genomes. Such comparisons, according to center scientists, are essential for guiding conservation priorities, given the dwindling numbers of wild lemurs.
The center's planned new facilities will be instrumental in bringing to fruition the various projects under way or being planned, Yoder said.
Because the center now lacks optimal winter quarters, animals are enclosed half the year, so there is only a six-month window for studying natural behavior. Future buildings will be integrated into the surrounding forest habitat so researchers can study natural behavior year-round. During the day, animals will range freely across multi-acre enclosures of woodland, while the new buildings within the enclosures will offer animals refuge at night. As many as three species will be housed together in a single enclosure to mirror the natural situation in Madagascar.
At least one of the new buildings to be constructed will be devoted to large social groups in which animals can reproduce freely. (Many animals are now on contraception.) The substantial space and the numbers of animals will allow authentic social interactions. The building will house ring-tailed lemurs and red-ruffed lemurs, as well as another prosimian species called sifaka.
The facility is expected to be a great draw for researchers and graduate and undergraduate students. "I want them to have my experience," Yoder said. "I want others to share my excitement and inspiration." Her scientific career, she noted, was kindled by a student tour of the former primate center when she was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Such experiences can spark interest in biology and conservation, and create opportunities to introduce the science behind evolutionary biology," she said.
Another new building will provide homes to pairs of lemurs and small groups of up to four animals. It will be especially useful for scientists studying cognition and behavior, housing experiments that use minimally manipulative techniques, such as treadmills, food choice trials and simple physiological assessments. Center scientists aim to design experiments that provide the animals with enriched environments, which are healthier physically and psychologically.
To complement its research activities, the center also will get a new building geared to public outreach efforts. "Even without a lot of publicity, we had 13,000 visitors last year," Yoder said. "Now we want to do even more to educate the general public on the importance of biodiversity and evolutionary biology. The idea is to capture the imagination of the young."
Toward this aim, Heather Thomas, the center's tour coordinator, plans to develop a new exhibit featuring a replica of a Malagasy field researcher's hut. "The planned exhibit will be a reconstruction of a field station down to the tiniest detail -- excluding the mosquitoes," Yoder said. The hut will have a sleeping bag, food canteen, headlamp, field notebooks and assorted technical gear. "We expect the exhibit to help children make a connection," Yoder said. "They will be able to imagine themselves there. They'll think 'I want to do that.' "
An online "baby lemur gallery" of images and audio information about animals at the Duke Lemur Center animals is available at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/flash/lemurbabies.html. A high-resolution image of red ruffed lemur twins, by David Haring, can also be accessed at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/redruffedtwins.jpg Also available in high resolution are images of: Primate Center director Anne Yoder by Duke University Photography (http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/yoderandlemur.jpg); and Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy director Huntington Willard by Butch Usery (http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/willard_hunt.jpg).
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