A new cute creature at the Duke Lemur Center
My heart melted a little bit this morning, and I thought you might want yours to do the same. I watched the video Duke University’s news service produced to introduce the world to Ichabod, an aye-aye.
The extremely rare aye-aye is a goofy looking creature that looks like a cross between a bat and a ferret. It hails from Madagascar, where it is endangered and is thought by some to be an omen for death for the village it shows up in.
Ichabod was born July 23 at the Duke Lemur Center.
I haven’t been to the Lemur Center yet, but I so need to take a tour. The center offers tours by appointment only. Yet another fun, unusal thing to do in the Bull City. For more on Ichabod, click here.
So do you think this aye-aye is a cutey or a little creepy?
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7 Responses to “A new cute creature at the Duke Lemur Center”
I think he’s cute! But it is a bit creepy that they’re omens of death…
By Alisa on Aug 27, 2008
Cutest nocturnal woodpecker EVER! I’ve been wanting to go there for a long time. One day…
I think it’s cute how they keep sticking him in that cup to hang out. Seems like a nice way to pass the time.
By Abby on Aug 27, 2008
Cute! Totally cute! Why didn’t lemurs take off as pets? Way cuter than those dang ferrets.
By ilinap on Aug 27, 2008
@ilinap When I was a little girl I wanted a ferret SO BAD. I would go to the pet store in the mall and hold them and BEG my parents to let me get one. Earlier this year, one of my friends was driving me around North Raleigh, trying to familiarize me with the city, we found a pet store. So we went inside and they had ferrets. I picked one up to hold it and it was so creepy. I’m glad my parents never let me have one.
By ginny on Aug 28, 2008
The Lemur Center is a great place to visit - the gift shop is tiny, and it is very informally appointed, but they take great care of the animals. The nocturnal species are housed in specially lit areas that are bright at night and red-lighted in the day to “trick” them into being active for human daytime visitors.
These guys are not pet candidates -they are our distant cousins, - primates - and live only in Madagascar, which has no large predators.
Neat post!
By John Dancy-Jones on Aug 28, 2008
See, Ginny. Mom and Dad do know best!
By ilinap on Aug 28, 2008
Oh, cool! We’re going in a couple weeks & I can’t wait to see him, if he’s out. I think they named him appropriately.
By Valerie on Aug 31, 2008