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A Most Extraordinary Trip
P A G E 1 4
V O L . 3 , N O . 1
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4
DUKE (DLC) CONNECTIONS
Two decades ago, during a university-led trip to Uganda, I went to Kenya after my research was completed, instead
of to Madagascar with a fellow brave student. She went alone, and I bet she never forgot it. So, when opportunity
knocked again, I had my bags packed before my tickets were purchased!
T h e
h u s b a n d r y
department at the Duke
Lemur Center (DLC) has a
di rect
and
int imate
relationship with the animals
that we house. The daily
attention to lemur health,
diet and behavior, provided
by our dedicated staff, turns
the DLC animals into our own
extended
family.
The
technicians’
attention
is
focused on the immediate
needs of their detailed care,
but the “big picture” of lemur
conservation
is
always
looming in the background.
And so my trip came to light.
How can our busy husbandry
staff here in North Carolina
continue to stay connected
to the plight of lemurs in Madagascar? Well, by going to the source of course!
Scouting out a trip to Madagascar where practical experience blended with on-the- ground conservation efforts,
became my number one task. There’s nothing like seeing this country first hand to make everything the DLC does here
in Durham, seem so much more relevant when performing our every day tasks. The DLC conservation program in the
SAVA region, led by our very own Charlie Welch and postdoc Erik Patel, is a perfect combination of working with
people, the environment and wildlife. Seeing that first hand gave me a comprehensive appreciation of what it all
means. While I have always been fully committed to the mission of the DLC, now more than ever, I truly understand
the importance of how my work here is so integrally connected to the effort in Madagascar. It became personal, really
personal. Now, as I pass through an animal area, I find myself thinking of their distant relatives that I had the pleasure
of seeing up in the canopy and about the role of these captive lemurs in our efforts to keep many future generations of
wild lemurs in those trees. It is essential that we learn here what it takes for their survival there. The matchmaking, the
diet perfecting, the veterinary care, the collaborative efforts with other zoological institutions, and the cleaning, oh the
cleaning! All of it became more personal and more important.
Desir
é
Rabary gives a forest ecology lesson to DLC’s Britt Keith and Andrea Katz.
Photo by Charlie Welch
By Britt Keith, Primate Technician Supervisor, Duke Lemur Center