Did you know lemurs are the most endangered animal on earth? We recently got the chance to visit the Duke Lemur Center to see these fascinating animals up close and personal. The kids didn’t even know what a lemur was so it was a great educational experience!
In order to visit Duke lemur center you must have a reservation. You cannot just drop in to see the animals whenever you want. There is a Little Lemurs tour available that is designed specifically for children aged 3 to 8, which is the tour we attended. They also have general tours for all ages that may have more educational information provided.
In order to schedule a tour you must call to reserve your spot, which was the biggest downfall for me. I’m a mom who never has time to talk on the phone! I wish they had an online scheduling option, but their tour times can vary so for now you must call to reserve.
Visitor Center and Gift Shop
The tour begins inside the visitor center, where you check in and pay upon arrival. You can also visit the gift shop where all proceeds go to benefit the education department and pay for the care of the animals. You will also want to visit the restroom before the tour since you must stay with your tour guide and will be unable to leave the tour to return to the visitor center until it is over.
Before setting off to see the lemurs you will first watch a short educational video about the animals. Our group had a lot of kids under 2, so our tour guide made the executive decision to skip the video. 🙌 I think she made a great call, and it goes to show how accommodating they are for kid’s short attention spans!
Viewing the Lemurs
The main part of the tour is outside, so be sure to dress for the weather. You will walk along a fully accessible paved path from the visitor center down to the lemur cages. I brought the stroller and it worked out great… until my almost 2 year old decided he want to be held instead. Story of every mother’s life, amirite?!
We went on a cold day so a lot of the lemurs had moved inside to stay out of the cold. Unfortunately you don’t get a great view of the inside cages since they want to give the lemurs privacy if they desire to be out of the limelight. There are a couple places along the tour where you move inside, but only two cages are visible from your vantage point so we weren’t able to see all of the lemurs. I’m sure if it was a warmer day they would all be outside, but the few that did come out put on a good show for us jumping around and playing!
Indoor Nocturnal Habitat
The coolest part that I didn’t get a picture of was the nocturnal habitat! Certain lemur species are nocturnal, but here at the lemur center they have tricked these animals with special lighting to allow them to be awake during the day instead of at night. The room they are in is completely dark to make the animals believe it is night time and there are special red lights so you can view the animals while they play. Here they ask that you stay quiet as to not disturb the animals, but the kids definitely made some noise and it was fine. The tour guide really was very accommodating to our little ones, so kids of any age are welcome!
Our tour lasted about an hour, so if you’re looking for a more up close animal encounter than the NC Zoo, I recommend visiting the Duke Lemur Center! You can get all of the information about scheduling tours here. Keep in mind you won’t be able to touch or feed any of the animals like at Aloha Safari Zoo, though. Also check out their Lemurpalooza event that occurs annually in May!
If you want to see more animals, check out our list of animal encounters in the triangle!