Cute lemurs make terrible pets, but supporting their conservation will bring big rewards

If you've ever watched a nature documentary featuring lemurs — or the animated feature "Madagascar," with characters King Julien, Maurice and Mort — you have probably fallen in love with the fascinating primates.

They're notable for their diversity of size — from the indri, the largest living lemur at up to 20 pounds, to the Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, the world's smallest primate, weighing about 1 pound — as well as for their primarily long, bushy, non-prehensile tails (the indri is unique in having a short tail); and plush coats with striking markings and colors.

But lemurs are in trouble. They are the most endangered group of terrestrial mammals in the world, with 98% of lemur species considered endangered or critically endangered (near extinction), according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which keeps tabs on the conservation status of animals and plants. Threats to the 107 known lemur species are habitat loss from deforestation and mining, hunting by humans and other predators such as dogs, climate change and poaching for the illegal pet trade.

Fortunately, lemurs have organizations working to help save them in Madagascar as well as to increase their genetic diversity through breeding programs outside of the country. One is the 58-year-old Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina, which I visited last month — a trip to Madagascar not being in my budget this year.

It has the most diverse population of lemurs outside Madagascar, and its mission is to study lemur locomotion, cognition, and behavior through noninvasive research; support community-based conservation; and provide public outreach and education.

A behind-the-scenes tour introduced me to gray mouse lemurs, fat-tailed dwarf lemurs, ringtails, Coquerel's sifakas, a bushbaby and others. Seeing feeding, lemur family interactions and enrichment activities enhanced the visit. The educational tours don't permit touching or interacting with the animals, but funds raised help to promote knowledge about lemurs and support their conservation and care.

The DLC also advocates against keeping lemurs as pets, citing the devastating effect on lemur populations and behavior, the high cost of keeping lemurs appropriately and the risks of having wild animals in homes or public places, such as bites to others. Learn more here: lemur.duke.edu/about/not-a-pet and here: lemur.duke.edu/about/position-statement-on-pet-lemurs. Instead, symbolically adopting a lemur supports conservation programs in Madagascar and the cost of care for them at DLC. Adopters receive regular photos of and updates on "their" lemur. Adoptions can be renewed annually.

The Mad (short for Madagascar) Dog Initiative (maddoginitiative.com), co-founded by Kim Valenta, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Florida's department of anthropology, works with local communities to vaccinate and spay and neuter dogs. How does that help lemurs? Free-roaming dogs negatively affect lemur populations by hunting them; transmitting diseases and parasites such as rabies, distemper, and canine heartworms; and reducing lemur feeding opportunities by driving them out of their territories through harassment and competition.

"Where there are dogs, there tend to be fewer lemurs present," Valenta says. "The presence of barky, scary dogs can change lemur spatial ecology, affecting their feeding and ranging decisions, and generally increasing their stress levels." Vaccination and spay/neuter programs help to reduce the risk of disease transmission and humanely reduce the number of free-roaming dogs in protected areas.

Because Madagascar is a developing country, financial support of protection efforts means more lemurs can be saved. Valenta says even small investments can have massive payoffs in terms of conservation and veterinary training.

Supporting lemurs is critical not only because of their endangered status but also because biodiversity is important. "So much of Madagascar is unknown to science," Valenta says. "A lot of advances in things like human medicine come out of the description and discovery of new species. There are things, I'm sure, in remaining pockets of forest in Madagascar that could be incredibly useful to human medicine, to human development, to all sorts of insight into our evolutionary history. And if that goes away, it's not something we can ever get back."

— Kim Campbell Thornton

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker. Pet Connection is produced by veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, journalist Kim Campbell Thornton, and dog trainer/behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. ©2024 Andrews McMeel Syndication.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Pet Connection-Lemurs are most endangered group of terrestrial mammals