Through three rounds of carefully planned airlifts, four pairs of Cockrell lemurs from the Lemur Center were transferred to Europe to start breeding herds

This story originally appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of Duke Magazine

Britt Keith hurriedly walked around the kitchen and walked to the yard looking for fresh newspaper clippings, like an anxious mother hurriedly packing her child to school. She gently stuffed a handful of sumac, sweet gum, and tulip poplar leaves into a kraft paper lunch bag labeled "Izzy" and "Slausy", and then tore the bag a bit, because Sifakas was not good at solving problems. Pour carrots, sweet potatoes, nuts in shell and some other special foods into ziplock bags.

Keith is the colony curator at the Duke Lemur Center, and she has been caring for the Coquerel's sifakas since they were born one day apart in 2015. She knew that while she was packing food, water and care instructions, she might never see Isabella or Winslaus again.

The dominant partner Isabella quickly climbed into her custom-made crate and inspected her lunch bag. It took Wenceslaus another minute, but it was nowhere near the worst-case pressure of being chased and arrested.

The kennel was gently closed and locked. A few minutes later, at around 8am, precious goods, a jug full of water and more fresh sumac were tightly stuffed into the back of the Subaru owned by Duke, ready to drive. Go to the airport Atlanta.

In addition to reminding the Duke leadership of possible disasters, officials at the Duke Lemur Center have been silent about their efforts to relocate the four pairs of breeding lemurs to zoos in Germany and the United Kingdom. Sifakas are exquisite and beautiful, and they are likely to die during transportation or shortly after arrival.

Izzy and Slausy are about to embark on a 36-hour journey, which will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the protection of lemurs, otherwise they will die.

The transfer of breeding pairs has been brewing for more than four years. The loss of habitat continues to push the lemurs in their native Madagascar to the brink of extinction, making the American Cockrell lemurs (half of them live in Duke) a kind of lifeboat. An idea began to emerge, there should be other outposts for breeding sifakas. "We can't have all the animals in North America. It's just irresponsible," Keith said.

In order to decide which pairs can travel, I consulted the official stallion book kept at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. "We don't want to divulge all our good genes," Keith said, because the walkie-talkie on her desk was chattering quietly. But they also don't want to destroy this isolated new population through inbreeding. "At this point, everyone is a little bit related."

Robust, slender limbs, always willing to look into the eyes of human visitors, auburn and cream sifakas are "fragile and poor." They require a lot of staff time and veterinary time," said semi-retired former curator Andrea Katz, who helped manage breeding programs for many years and began discussing some kind of transfer more than a decade ago.

"Sifakas are very delicate," Keith responded. First, they need to eat fresh leaves every day, otherwise they will die. Their particularly long intestines are prone to fatal kinks, blockages, and clostridia infections. Although Duke and other centers have successfully bred them in captivity, their infant mortality rate is about 50%. Many captive sifakas now live into their 20s, but their average life expectancy is only seven years.

Lemur No. 7201f Isabella is the daughter of Charlemagne, which makes her the granddaughter of TV star Zhu Wei'an, who played the live-action version of Zoboomafoo in the children's show of the same name. Her partner, 7,200 meters, idle Wenceslaus, Coleslaw or Slaughty, is the son of Rod Linda, another prolific mother of Duke. These are second-generation captive-bred sifakas, one of the few who can survive into adulthood and give birth. There are no wild-caught Sifakas in captivity.

Duke University invited applications in 2017, and four European zoos responded. The four pairs are determined from a potential population of only 66 animals. Those born elsewhere, Euphemia and Sigismund in Baltimore, Justa in St. Louis and Elliott in Los Angeles, were taken to Duke University in 2017 and 2018, Paired with Duke University’s partners years ago to ensure compatibility. Keith paused. "Everything must be...perfect."

Each receiving zoo sent a person to receive sifaka care training at Duke University. Keith visited Europe to see what the new accommodation would look like. Duke University also provides an authoritative lemur care manual, compiled and perfected by the veterinarians of the Katz and Lemur Center, who know lemur care better than anyone in the world.

In June, the transfer began. When the last bureaucratic obstacle suddenly appeared, the first sifaka pair, Beatrice and Elliot, were already on their way to Atlanta. Three hours after Subaru merged south of I-85, Greg Dye, executive director of the Lemur Center, was informed that the United States Department of Agriculture was missing. He had to decide whether to recall the mission, but he chose not to do so because Duke University staff in Durham and Washington worked frantically to clean up the documents in time for the flight to London.

"In five years, if there is one baby, maybe two, it will be amazing."-Amanda Green

The manifest says two live animal packages, fifty-five kilograms. There are no nursing technicians, no veterinarians. Lemurs are transported in an ordinary $300 kennel, just like what an 80-pound dog needs, modified by the staff of the Lemur Center, including some small houses: raised floors for two days of physical function, some Wood shavings, a water bottle, a sturdy branch hanging or sitting awkwardly on it, and a paper lunch bag full of fresh leaves. Most importantly, a really huge zipper bag filled with many other zippered bags of fresh snacks, an escape net just in case, and a bright yellow folder with instructions and phone numbers for Anyone who uses it may have to deal with issues in the process.

The box is spacious, but not exactly a forest fence. The windows of the kennel are equipped with green filter cloth to protect privacy, but the front cover is a curtain that can be pulled up for inspection. Customs officials always ask technicians to remove the powerful 9-pound sifakas from their boxes, but they are wild animals that are not normally handled, and they can jump more than 20 feet from standing. "We have learned to say they bite and scratch," Keith said. "It seems to have worked."

Beatrice and Elliot spent 36 hours in their custom crates on their first trip-from Durham to Atlanta to London, then took a 90-minute van to Upton Beechester, England Chester Zoo. Just sitting in a room and waiting for humans to agree on paperwork. The customs at Heathrow Airport held them for 10 hours before persuading the government veterinarian to release the lemurs.

For each delivery, road workers camped at a hotel near Atlanta, waiting for any news, and waiting at least ten hours. The registrar and data manager Amanda Greene used the flight tracking app on the phone to ensure that the plane was indeed in the air, still in the air, and finally landed in London. "It was only a 6-hour flight, but it seemed to have taken a week," she said. "A week and a half later, we did it again. The anxiety level only dropped a little bit."

The second shipment was Sigismund and Justa's Cologne and Euphemia and Hostilian (the other grandson of Zoboomafoo) took the same Lufthansa plane to Berlin. Things seemed to get better, until a cargo handler in Atlanta found a box of pet gerbils on the other floor of their plane. German authorities require that only one animal be carried on the flight. After a few phone calls, the rodent was hit and received a coupon for a later flight.

The Lemur Center has done everything it can to make the transition from Durham to its new home safe and smooth, but there will still be important differences. For example, the favorite leaf of sifakas is sumac, which is abundant in summer when they browse various plants in the natural habitat of the lemur center. Duke strives to maintain a sufficient supply of sumac throughout the year, packing seven huge refrigerators with fresh cuttings in the fall. But European zoos have completely different collections of plants. "After the first winter, we will learn more about browsing and babies," Katz said. "I would love to see what we can learn from the European Zoo."

The staff at the Lemur Center expected the worst transfer, but the lemurs seemed to have survived the trip. Tierpark, located in former East Berlin, received an extra pair of Isabella and Wenceslaus from Duke University. Because a zoo in England lost its economic foundation during the pandemic, it was better not to submit. At present, all four couples have safely moved into their new homes, and contraceptive measures have been shut down.

Nevertheless, years of hardship and tragic losses have weakened people's expectations. "If they are still alive after a year, it is a success," Katz said.

"In five years, if there is one baby, maybe two, it will be amazing," Green said.

Isabella and Wenceslaus left a few months later than the others, and their second operation may have to wait at least for another breeding season. Sifakas breed only once a year, in summer in the northern hemisphere. Babies are born in January and February. If it can be arranged, the couple may end up in Dublin.

The name sifaka is a Malagasy onomatopoeia, meaning the soft buzzing sound used by animals to communicate. When their journey began, Isabella made a quiet noise as the two kennels were sitting side by side behind Subaru. "This can be a contact number, like looking for him," Keith said. "This is the normal voice we hear when they are with their family."

"They will be great. They are going to have a baby!" Green assured her colleagues before driving.

For the other pair, her words may sound true. In July, shortly after they arrived at Tierpark, they saw the reproduction of Euphemia and Hostilian.

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