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E-ulemur Latitudese-newsletter September 2013

www.lemurreserve.org

RING-TAILED TWINS UPDATE

Ro gue dur ing 'weight' tr aining

The r ing-tailed lemur twins ar e gr o wing up quickly and lear ning all abo ut life in the fo r est. Altho ugh wehave no t co nfir med the sex o f the twins, they do finally have names! The twins ar e par t o f the "beerfamily" o f r ing-tailed lemur s and wer e named after two cr aft br ewer ies in the US: Ro gue and Allagash. One twin is ver y adventur o us and is ver y co mfo r table explo r ing away fr o m mo m, while the o ther twinis a little less br ave. The infant with the mo r e bo ld per so nality is named Ro gue and o ur shy infantAllagash. The twins ar e cur r ently being tr ained by o ur animal car e staff to stand o n a scale in o r der to o btainweight info r matio n. As yo u see in this pictur e, Ro gue immediately jumped o n the scale and o btained hisfo o d r ewar d. He weighs a who pping 0.82 kg! (Adult r ing-tailed lemur s typically weigh between 2.2 and2.7 kg.)

LCF Inter ns

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Allagash and Ansell o n the scale while Ro gue explo r es the fo r est Allagash was mo r e r eluctant and waited fo r mo m to get o n the scale to o . Tr aining lemur s like Ro gue andAllagash to sit o n a scale is an impo r tant par t o f o ur animal managementpr o gr am at LCF. Obtaining weights helps to ensur e that o ur animals ar e within healthy weight limits,which can impr o ve r epr o ductive success and pr event and detect diseases.

WELCOME INTERNS! Fo ur talented inter ns ar r ived at the r eser ve. L indsay, Macy, and Jo e ar e wo r king in Animal Husbandr y.Rachel is LCF's Resear ch Inter n.

Lindsay Krapfl, Animal Husbandry Intern: Lindsay recently completed her Bachelor's degree at the University

of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She majored in Biology with an emphasis in Animal Biology. While earning her degreeshe was an Education Intern at the NEW Zoo in Green Bay, WI and was able to work with the programanimals. She then joined the LCF team to continue to pursue a career as a zookeeper. Working at LCF has beena wonderful and unique experience for Lindsay. Her favorite lemur is Emilia, a female mongoose lemur. Rachel Mattes, Research Intern: Rachel is from Columbia Station, Ohio. Rachel earned her BA in Zoologyand Psychology from Ohio Weslyan University. She completed an externship in wildlife rehabilitation at TheWildlife Center of Virginia. 'I'm very excited for an opportunity to work with exotic endangered animals and toget some experience in the field of conservation. I love that some of the animals are able to live free range, andespecially that they have been trained to receive their food even in the forest. I think it's really great that even ifthey have to live in captivity, the lemurs have an opportunity to live an almost natural life style.' Macy Madden, Animal Husbandry Intern: Macy's hometown is Clinton, NY. She attended Canisius Collegeand an internship at Rosamind Gifford Zoo as a Small Mammals Intern. Macy returned to the zoo as a SmallMammal Keeper last summer. How does Macy view her internship at LCF? ' It is an amazing opportunity toapply the research techniques I have learned throughout my coursework at college and to work only withlemurs. I have the ability to work with several species of lemurs and can interact with a majority of them closely. This internship has offered a wide variety of opportunities and everyone is very supportive. '

Joe Van Sistine, Animal Husbandry Intern: After ear ning a B achelo r 's degr ee in Gener al B io lo gy fr o mthe Univer sity o f Wisco nsin Milwaukee, Jo e star ted his car eer wo r king at the NEW Zo o in Gr een B ay,the zo o he gr ew up go ing to . Wo r king as an educatio n inter n, he no t o nly go t to wo r k with thepr o gr am animals, but was also able to wo r k clo sely with the zo o keeper s in animal car e. Jo e sees LCFas a gr eat step fo r war d to beco ming a zo o keeper , and he abso lutely lo ves being her e. His favo r itelemur to wo r k with is B imbini, who is o ne o f the male mo ngo o se lemur s. Altho ugh the jo b can be ver ydemanding, Jo e always lo o ks fo r war d to wo r king each day.

AN ARTICLE FROM NBC NEWS:When human babies are 3 months old, they pay attention to lemur calls

as well as human voices -

Infants r espo nd to the vo ices o f their do ting par ents - but it's no t just human vo ices that ho ld themspellbo und. In what may be a hallmar k o f o ur ancestr y, human br ains begin life har d-wir ed to hear thecalls o f no n-human pr imates, an ability that fades away after just a few mo nths. Past studies with infants have sho wn that deep co gnitive wheels ar e set tur ning as they listen to humanspeech. No w r esear cher s have fo und that so unds fr o m the blue-eyed Madagascar lemur engage theirattentio n, to o , in ways that ar tificial so unds do n't. "The link is sufficiently br o ad to include the call o f this ado r able lemur ," Sandr a Waxman, pr o fesso r o fco gnitive psycho lo gy at No r thwester n Univer sity and a co -autho r o n the new study, to ld NB C News.

"The fact that ther e's this pr eco cio us link between language and tho ught .. . it's just hands-do wnamazing." READ MO RE HERE

FELICIA SPECTOR JOINS THE LCF TEAM AS OUR ANIMAL CARE TECHNICIAN

Felicia Specto r , Animal Car e Technician

Felicia is fr o m Plainview, Lo ng Island, and co mpleted her B achelo r s and Master 's degr ees in NewYo r k. She gr aduated with a B S in B io lo gy fr o m Unio n Co llege in Schenectady, NY and co mpleted aMaster s in Co nser vatio n B io lo gy fr o m Co lumbia Univer sity.

B efo r e jo ining the LCF team o n 21 August Felicia finished inter nships at the Cleveland Amo r y B lackB eauty Ranch in Mur chiso n, Texas and o ne at the Asso ciatio n o f Zo o s and Aquar iums in Silver Spr ing,Mar yland. Dur ing these inter nships she gained exper ience as a Vet-tech at the exo tic animal sanctuar y inTexas and Co nser vatio n Educatio n exper ience with the AZA in Mar yland.

Her e ar e her o wn wo r ds abo ut the Animal Car e Technician po sitio n with LCF: 'I liked that LCF no to nly wo r ks to war ds the better ment o f their in-situ po pulatio ns, but also co llabo r ates with gr o ups inMadagascar o n co nser vatio n r esear ch and effo r ts fo r the few po pulatio ns left in the wild. I was ho pingto find a jo b that invo lved dir ect animal car e, while also allo wing me to be a par t o f a co nser vatio no r ganizatio n that had a pr esence in the r egio n o f which their species ar e endemic, and the Animal Car eTechnician po sitio n with LCF pr o vides just that!'

Contact Info: LCF Executive Director & CEOLee Nesler941-322-8494