DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University primatologists were unable to capture a
mate for the rare lemur called Romeo, in an October 2-16 expedition to the
lemurs' homeland in Madagascar. Duke Primate Center Director Kenneth Glander
and his colleagues said Monday they sighted groups of rare diademed sifakas
like Romeo, but were unable to come close enough for a capture.
The diademed sifaka is the largest living lemur and considered perhaps the
most beautiful of primates, with fur of yellow, orange, gray, white and
black.
Romeo is the only diademed sifaka in captivity, and Primate Center scientists
urgently seek to establish a captive breeding colony of the animals before
they go extinct from hunting and habitat destruction.
In fact, said Glander, the expedition dramatically showed how much pressure
the endangered animals are under.
"Although we saw groups of animals on five of our eight days in the
forest, the instant they saw us, they would run away," Glander said.
"We also found a lot of lemur traps and extensive cutting of trees."
Glander said his observations supported the accuracy of estimates that the
diademed sifaka will be extinct in about 20 years.
According to Glander, the researchers were particularly surprised at the
reduced number of other lemur species in the east-coast Forest de la Gare
where the expedition ventured. They sighted only a single bamboo lemur and
heard the calls of black-and-white ruffed lemurs.
"There should have been many more, but hunting in the area is rapidly
depleting the population." And, when Glander and his colleagues explored
the area where Romeo had been captured three years ago, they found a heavily
logged forest with no lemurs in sight.
The capture effort will continue, said Glander, with expedition member Charlie
Welch, who lives in Madagascar, returning to the Forest de la Gare area
in late November.
"Since we found that the lemurs grew more wary the longer
'"/>
Contact: Dennis Meredith
meredithd@mail01.adm.duke.edu
919-681-8054
Duke University
21-Oct-1996