Duke Lemur Center Duke Lemur Center News

Piece of May 2024 News Worth Mentioning:

On May 5th, the center announced that (1.1) ring-tailed lemurs named Meriadoc/Merry and Eowyn were born on March 19th.

Duke Lemur Center

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On July 16th, the center announced that (2.2) grey mouse lemurs were born on May 31st (named Sweet William and Artemisia) and June 4th (named Macadamia and Peanut) respectively.

Duke Lemur Center
 
Birth of 6 Gray Mouse Lemurs.
Duke Lemur Center on Instagram: "Twins, twins, twins! We have SIX new tiny residents to announce Three more of our female gray mouse lemurs had healthy sets of twins! One-year-old Belladonna, a first-time mom, gave birth to twin girls Rhubarb and Taro. Ten-year-old Mushmelon, also a first-time mom, welcomed daughter Lychee and son Rambutan. And finally, experienced mom Merriweather brought the 2024 baby season to a close with twin daughters Beautyberry and Tea Olive. So many teeny residents to add to our colony this #TinyTwinTuesday! ➡️ Read more at lemur.duke.edu/mousetwins24 ✨ Did you know that Belladonna is the gray mouse lemur representative for our Adopt a Lemur program? You can support Belladonna, Rhubarb, and Taro by symbolically adopting this first-time mom, and you’ll receive quarterly updates with photos and information on the infants’ development. Belladonna’s adopters also got early access to the news about the babies in their August update! ➡️ Show your support now at lemur.duke.edu/adopt "
 
On April 30th, it was mentioned that the center transferred a (0.1) collared brown lemur named Bijou and a (0.1) Coquerel's sifaka named Furia to San Diego Zoo in California*.

On May 22nd, the center announced that (0.2) ring-tailed lemurs were born on March 27th, a (1.0) Coquerel's sifaka was born on March 9th, a (0.1) mongoose lemur was born on March 31st, and a (1.0) red-ruffed lemur was born on April 15th. All baby lemurs are currently awaiting names.

Duke Lemur Center

* Information provided by @ZooGirlSD in the San Diego Zoo News 2025 thread (Page 7 Post #133).
 
The center is currently facing pushback after putting out an AI generated add seeking donations for the DLC
Duke Lemur Center on Instagram: "In this new video, we’ve partnered with CYLNDR Studios to explore a fresh way to tell our story. By responsibly using AI tools, we were able to create visuals that help people see and feel the wonder of lemurs—and the urgent need to protect them We’re excited to share this piece as a conversation starter, an invitation for support, and a reminder of what’s at stake. ➡️ lemur.duke.edu/closer BACKGROUND: “Closer Than You Think” was created by a team of creatives at CYLNDR Studios, a Los Angeles-based video production company, as part of the DLC’s ongoing effort to share the story of lemurs and inspire support for their future. Using AI tools in conjunction with materials provided by the DLC, the result is a bit of fantasy, a blend of real and not, that helps us visualize moments and connections that would otherwise be impossible to capture. This was a pro bono project, done for no charge to the DLC. We’re grateful to the teams at CYLNDR and LTX Labs for donating their time and talent to bringing lemurs, and the people working to protect them, to life in a whole new way "
The whole thing looks very sloppy and their entire reasoning behind it and defense comes across as very weak and shallow.
 
Jonathan Petersson said:
The center is currently facing pushback after putting out an AI generated add seeking donations for the DLC
Duke Lemur Center on Instagram: "In this new video, we’ve partnered with CYLNDR Studios to explore a fresh way to tell our story. By responsibly using AI tools, we were able to create visuals that help people see and feel the wonder of lemurs—and the urgent need to protect them We’re excited to share this piece as a conversation starter, an invitation for support, and a reminder of what’s at stake. ➡️ lemur.duke.edu/closer BACKGROUND: “Closer Than You Think” was created by a team of creatives at CYLNDR Studios, a Los Angeles-based video production company, as part of the DLC’s ongoing effort to share the story of lemurs and inspire support for their future. Using AI tools in conjunction with materials provided by the DLC, the result is a bit of fantasy, a blend of real and not, that helps us visualize moments and connections that would otherwise be impossible to capture. This was a pro bono project, done for no charge to the DLC. We’re grateful to the teams at CYLNDR and LTX Labs for donating their time and talent to bringing lemurs, and the people working to protect them, to life in a whole new way "
The whole thing looks very sloppy and their entire reasoning behind it and defense comes across as very weak and shallow.
Click to expand...
Oiyoiyoi!

Here's my jab at dissecting the octopus...
The video itself was not conceptualised entirely by the Duke Lemur Centre. It was conceptualised by a video studio in California, that being CYLNDR [Studios]. CYLNDR is a studio which bills itself as a studio which creates 'modern content, powered by design'. A glance at their website gives me the idea that CYLNDR is a company which produces 'content for brands', and works largely with the marketing of brands. I think the thing of most interest/disgust here is that of LTX Labs, which is... ...a studio? ...a platform? ...'the future of storytelling'? Whatever it is it doesn't do the best job at telling what it is meant to be. But it's something which companies can use to generate AI video, from what I see.
What I do find interesting is that on Facebook it is mentioned that on the end of the DLC it was pro bono, free of charge - so what I'm guessing at here is that the DLC reached out to CYLNDR for an idea for an advertisement, and CYLNDR utilised LTX for the AI work.

Now my thoughts on the ad itself.... somehow this ad made me feel nothing. I see the concept they are going for, that people and lemurs aren't that different, hey look at that they do what we do... but the examples they use are rather basic. I have the thought after watching this ad, 'why does this ad have to be about lemurs? It could be about almost any sort of animal!' And as lemurs are a very interesting group of animals, I can't see why they wouldn't show lemurs doing more lemur specific things. Like show lemurs doing 'yoga' and have people doing yoga... have aye-ayes go hunting for food at night and have some people eating at night or something... this doesn't scream 'lemur' to me somehow. And then after that we get a classic feature of corporate ads... the 'we don't have much to say so here's a rapidfire selection of profound things' montage... neurons... baobab trees... DNA... flowers... a colourful load of nothing... chromatography... gametes... baby lemur... milky way galaxy. What is this supposed to tell me?
After that a text explanation of how 'lemurs are disappearing... and with them a world of knowledge...' of various diseases, superimposed by clips of people hugging each other etc. And somehow I am meant to feel something yet I do not. And after that we get some more brand-marketing 'aerogel statements' [very, very light in substance for the screen time it takes] before the end of the ad.
I feel nothing after watching this ad. I feel no inspiration to protect lemurs in their natural habitat. I feel nothing towards whatever potential benefits they may have to humanity from watching this ad. I am impressed in a horrible way that they take a very interesting subject... lemurs... and make me totally disinterested in the subject by watching the ad. Somehow I feel offended that they took this interesting group of animals to make a corporate ad that does all it can to keep the eyes glued... otherwise they wouldn't have that stupid montage... whilst having the least amount of anything to say about its subject as possible. This gives the hallmarks of an ad about lemurs by several executives who did as little research as possible.

And I haven't even began talking about the generative AI in my critique! I don't like the generative AI either... but I can't help but feel that here the gAI works in essence as a mask for the overwhelming amount of nothing contained in this ad. You won't get angry that we made a ad about lemurs with just about nothing interesting to say about them, no... you'll get angry that what you are looking at was generated by a neural network! And I do find it tragically funny that they bill these clips used as something innovative, something that 'would otherwise be impossible to capture'... when most of the clips here are the kind of things you'd find on stock footage sites that may very well have trained the AI model that these clips were made with! Lemurs have been recorded on film for many years, and the lemurs here at least are not doing very much that is unusual for lemurs to do. And if you do mean to say that either the lemurs or people generated by AI in this ad are not actually acting in the way that they actually do at times... surely this totally undercuts your message that people and lemurs are not very different, actually! There is no innovation here! There is nothing new! The use of gAI here feels totally and utterly pointless.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth... and it pains me that of all the ways one of the most regarded, interesting conservation organisations in the world could ask for money and support, this is how they go about doing it. And it isn't particularly good whatsoever. And I do believe the DLC is a force for net good in the world, this doesn't detract from that at all, anything that they have done or are to do... I just think that this was just a misstep that I really rather they had second thoughts about.
 
dillotest0 said:
Oiyoiyoi!

Here's my jab at dissecting the octopus...
The video itself was not conceptualised entirely by the Duke Lemur Centre. It was conceptualised by a video studio in California, that being CYLNDR [Studios]. CYLNDR is a studio which bills itself as a studio which creates 'modern content, powered by design'. A glance at their website gives me the idea that CYLNDR is a company which produces 'content for brands', and works largely with the marketing of brands. I think the thing of most interest/disgust here is that of LTX Labs, which is... ...a studio? ...a platform? ...'the future of storytelling'? Whatever it is it doesn't do the best job at telling what it is meant to be. But it's something which companies can use to generate AI video, from what I see.
What I do find interesting is that on Facebook it is mentioned that on the end of the DLC it was pro bono, free of charge - so what I'm guessing at here is that the DLC reached out to CYLNDR for an idea for an advertisement, and CYLNDR utilised LTX for the AI work.

Now my thoughts on the ad itself.... somehow this ad made me feel nothing. I see the concept they are going for, that people and lemurs aren't that different, hey look at that they do what we do... but the examples they use are rather basic. I have the thought after watching this ad, 'why does this ad have to be about lemurs? It could be about almost any sort of animal!' And as lemurs are a very interesting group of animals, I can't see why they wouldn't show lemurs doing more lemur specific things. Like show lemurs doing 'yoga' and have people doing yoga... have aye-ayes go hunting for food at night and have some people eating at night or something... this doesn't scream 'lemur' to me somehow. And then after that we get a classic feature of corporate ads... the 'we don't have much to say so here's a rapidfire selection of profound things' montage... neurons... baobab trees... DNA... flowers... a colourful load of nothing... chromatography... gametes... baby lemur... milky way galaxy. What is this supposed to tell me?
After that a text explanation of how 'lemurs are disappearing... and with them a world of knowledge...' of various diseases, superimposed by clips of people hugging each other etc. And somehow I am meant to feel something yet I do not. And after that we get some more brand-marketing 'aerogel statements' [very, very light in substance for the screen time it takes] before the end of the ad.
I feel nothing after watching this ad. I feel no inspiration to protect lemurs in their natural habitat. I feel nothing towards whatever potential benefits they may have to humanity from watching this ad. I am impressed in a horrible way that they take a very interesting subject... lemurs... and make me totally disinterested in the subject by watching the ad. Somehow I feel offended that they took this interesting group of animals to make a corporate ad that does all it can to keep the eyes glued... otherwise they wouldn't have that stupid montage... whilst having the least amount of anything to say about its subject as possible. This gives the hallmarks of an ad about lemurs by several executives who did as little research as possible.

And I haven't even began talking about the generative AI in my critique! I don't like the generative AI either... but I can't help but feel that here the gAI works in essence as a mask for the overwhelming amount of nothing contained in this ad. You won't get angry that we made a ad about lemurs with just about nothing interesting to say about them, no... you'll get angry that what you are looking at was generated by a neural network! And I do find it tragically funny that they bill these clips used as something innovative, something that 'would otherwise be impossible to capture'... when most of the clips here are the kind of things you'd find on stock footage sites that may very well have trained the AI model that these clips were made with! Lemurs have been recorded on film for many years, and the lemurs here at least are not doing very much that is unusual for lemurs to do. And if you do mean to say that either the lemurs or people generated by AI in this ad are not actually acting in the way that they actually do at times... surely this totally undercuts your message that people and lemurs are not very different, actually! There is no innovation here! There is nothing new! The use of gAI here feels totally and utterly pointless.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth... and it pains me that of all the ways one of the most regarded, interesting conservation organisations in the world could ask for money and support, this is how they go about doing it. And it isn't particularly good whatsoever. And I do believe the DLC is a force for net good in the world, this doesn't detract from that at all, anything that they have done or are to do... I just think that this was just a misstep that I really rather they had second thoughts about.
Click to expand...

I agree absolutely that the content of the ad is awful even ignoring all of the gen-AI BS. As someone who would take a bullet for any lemur I expected it to at least make me feel something. Nope! It could be an ozempic ad for all I care. Almost as if the people making these AI ads are entirely devoid of creativity. What a surprise! :rolleyes:

The thing that really frustrates me is that it just displays lemurs as these fake, uncanny, artificial things when they are absolutely 100% real fantastic animals that we should be proud to share a planet with, and the DLC should be proud to care for and breed! Why would looking at some fake mock-lemur make me feel any sort of wonder or inspiration? What a joke.
 
Piece of April 2025 News Not Mentioned:

On April 14th, it was announced that the center acquired a (0.1) crowned lemur from Brandywine Zoo in Delaware in March.

Brandywine Zoo

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On July 8th, the center announced that (0.3) fat-tailed dwarf lemurs were born on June 3rd, and were named Bufflehead, Smew, and Toulouse Goose, respectively.

5K views · 419 reactions | Enjoy this sneak peek into the nest of the DLC's newest infants: Bufflehead, Smew, and Toulouse Goose! ➡️ lemur.duke.edu/dominique-triplets On June 3, 2025, fat-tailed dwarf lemur Dominique Chicken gave birth to three little girls! This is Dominique Chicken’s second litter with breeding partner Goose, following the birth of twins Wigeon and Eider in 2023. Dominique Chicken is the older sister of Java Chicken, whose infants we announced just last week. Bufflehead and Smew, like their older sister and brother, get their names from duck species, while Toulouse Goose, in a nod to her dad, is named after a breed of domestic goose Unlike diurnal lemurs, whose infants cling to mom's belly and travel through the forest with the family, nocturnal lemurs build nests to house their infants until they're developed enough to explore on their own. Dominique Chicken and her family live in one of our free-ranging nocturnal rooms, meaning that she, Goose, and their offspring will have plenty of space to explore once the babies get more adventurous! Stay tuned for future videos as these tiny triplets take on the world ➡️ lemur.duke.edu/adopt If you symbolically adopt fat-tailed dwarf lemur Raven through our Adopt a Lemur program, you'll be excited to learn that these are even MORE of her grandlemurs! Learn more about how you can support the care and conservation of lemurs through our symbolic adoption program, or discover all of the ways you can contribute to the Duke Lemur Center at lemur.duke.edu/donate : Elizabeth D. (Smew starts outside of the basket, Bufflehead is on the left, and Toulouse Goose eats the blueberry) | Duke Lemur Center
 
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