Lemur Conservation Foundation

Lemur Conservation Foundation
Founded 1996
Founder Penelope Bodry-Sanders
Type 501(c)(3)
Focus Preserve and conserve the primates of Madagascar
Location
  • Myakka City, FL
Product Lemur Conservation
Key people
 Lee Nesler, Executive Director & CEO; Pattie Walsh, Director of Research and Operations, Alison Grand, Ph.D., Animal Care Manager
Employees
 4
Website http://www.lemurreserve.org/

The Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) is a small American non-profit organization that works closely with the Duke Lemur Center, LCF Scientific Advisory Council (including Dr. Ian Tattersall), the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Prosimian Taxon Advisory Group (TAG), and the Species Survival Plan (SSP) coordinators.[1] Its lemur reserve in Mayakka City, FL houses Ring-tailed Lemurs, Red-fronted Brown Lemurs, White-headed Lemurs, Eastern Lesser Bamboo Lemurs, Mongoose lemurs, Red ruffed lemurs, Common Brown Lemurs and Sanford's Lemurs.[1] Its goals include conservation (including captive breeding and reintroduction), research, and education.[1][2]

Mission

"The Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) is a small non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the primates of Madagascar through captive breeding, scientific research, education, and reintroduction."[1]

Myakka City Lemur Reserve

The 90-acre (360,000 m2) Myakka City Lemur Reserve, which opened in 1999, is an AZA accredited facility[3] that is located in Manatee County, Florida. There are two forested 13-acre (53,000 m2)+ free-range enclosures and the remaining acres currently serve as a buffer zone for the reserve. Two buildings act as indoor/outdoor enclosures: the Reed and Barbara Toomey Lemur Pavilion and the Marilyn K. North Lemur Lodge. The Mianatra Center for Lemur Studies and the Anne & Walter Bladstrom Library are also located at this facility and serve as an on-site educational resource.[1]

Tampolo Forest Reserve

The Lemur Conservation Foundation is partnered with the Tampolo Forest Station, a small reserve in the 1,700-acre (6.9 km2) forest of Tampolo in Madagascar.[1]

Training and research opportunities

The facility is open to academic professionals and college-level students for behavioral and other non-surgical research. There are two six-month internships offered in animal husbandry and field methods.[2]

Research on lemur cognition and has been performed at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve and published in peer-reviewed academic journals. The studies showed that lemurs can understand basic arithmetic operations[4] and will preferentially select tools based on their functional qualities (e.g., tool orientation, ease of use) instead of tools with nonfunctional features (e.g., color, texture), despite not being known to use tools in the wild.[5]

Publications

The Lemur Conservation Foundation releases annual reports and a semiannual newsletter, called Lemur Latitudes.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Lemur Conservation Foundation". Lemur Conservation Foundation. 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lemur Conservation Foundation". Primate Info Net. 2006-07-25. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  3. ↑ "AZA Certified Related Facilities". Association of Zoos and Aquariums. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  4. ↑ Santos, Laurie R.; Barnes, Jennifer L.; Mahajan, Neha (2005). "Expectations about numerical events in four lemur species (Eulemur fulvus, Eulemur mongoz, Lemur catta and Varecia rubra)" (PDF REPRINT). Animal Cognition 8 (4): 253–262. doi:10.1007/s10071-005-0252-4. PMID 15729569.
  5. ↑ Santos, Laurie R.; Mahajan, Neha, & Barens, Jennifer L. (2005). "How Prosimian Primates Represent Tools: Experiments With Two Lemur Species (Eulemur fulvus and Lemur catta)" (PDF REPRINT). Journal of Comparative Psychology 119 (4): 394–403. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.119.4.394. PMID 16366773.

External links