In 1966, a prosimian colony of approximately 90 individuals was relocated from the Center for Prosimian Biology at Yale University to Duke University, and thus began the Duke Lemur Center (DLC). Through the 1970s the colony grew to approximately 700 individuals representing 33 species. The current colony ranges between 250 and 300 animals, representing approximately 25 species. Originally called the Duke University Primate Center, the center's name was changed in April of 2006 after a refocusing of the scientific goals and overall mission. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Prosimians are the most primitive extant primates; they represent forms that were ancestral to monkeys, apes and humans. ... Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. ... Duke University is a private, coeducational, research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Officially founded as Duke University in 1924, Duke traces its institutional roots back to 1838. ...

The mission of the Duke University Lemur Center is to promote research and understanding of prosimians and their natural habitat as a means of advancing the frontiers of knowledge; to contribute to the educational development of future leaders in international scholarship and conservation; and to enhance the human condition by stimulating intellectual growth and sustaining global biodiversity.

The Lemur Center, the only university-based facility in the world devoted to the study of prosimian primates, is home to the world's largest colony of endangered primates, including more than 250 lemurs, bush babies and lorises. More than 85 percent of the center's inhabitants were born on site. In 1997, the center began a program to reintroduce black and white ruffed lemurs to Madagascar, the first return of any prosimian primates to the island nation. Superfamilies and Families Cheirogaleoidea Cheirogaleidae Lemuroidea Lemuridae Lepilemuridae Indriidae Lemurs are part of a class of primates known as prosimians, and make up the infraorder Lemuriformes. ... Genera  Otolemur  Euoticus  Galago Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies (meaning night monkeys in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagonidae. ... Genera Loris Nycticebus For other uses, see Loris (disambiguation). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External link

• Duke University
• Duke Lemur Center (DLC)