Since receiving an $8-million grant from the University in April, the Duke Lemur Center has been in the process of planning structural improvements intended to expand its influence and accessibility.
Slated for completion by October 2008, the Lemur Center expansion will focus on infrastructure, said Anne Yoder, director of the Lemur Center and professor of biology and biological anthropology and anatomy.
She added that planned structural improvements range from a new nocturnal building to an improved visitors center.
"We want to build more releasable housing enclosures out in the forest so that we can have more and more animals free ranging," Yoder said. "We want to expand our veterinary healthcare facilities. Our vets do a superb job with what they have but they deserve better."
The infrastructural additions will provide for a natural, reliable lemur habitat that will greatly benefit research and educational opportunities, Yoder said.
"It's also a big improvement for the undergraduate program. They will now be able to take coursework at the Lemur Center year round," Yoder said. "Once we have the buildings up and running, we will be so much better equipped to teach out there and have projects that run throughout the year."
The Lemur Center is also working with the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy to create the Duke Lemur Genome Initiative, a collaborative approach to genetic evolutionary research, IGSP Director Huntington Willard said.
"[The initiative will] apply the tools of genome analysis to understand the evolution of lemurs and their relationship with other primates to gain insight into how species are formed and how they are different from each other," Willard said.
He added that the boost in funding for the Lemur Center will accelerate lemur research and will make it easier for Duke students and faculty to interact with the animals.
The Lemur Center is "the world's largest sanctuary for rare and endangered prosimian primates," according to the center's mission statement. Yoder said she hopes the increase in funding will bring greater recognition to lemur research in the general scientific community.
"It brings a more visible face to the kind of resource that we offer, this amazing colony of very special animals that you cannot find anywhere else in the world other than Madagascar," Yoder said. "The buzzword I repeat is 'user friendliness.' We will be much more equipped to accommodate researchers and students."
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