Aye-aye Pod

A Busy Time in Primate Evolution: Spring 2026

Description: Over the last few years, Aye-aye Pod co-host Matt Borths has been part of a paleontology team exploring an exciting new fossil site called Topernawi, which i

A Creature That Has a Superpower: Winter 2026

In this episode of Aye-aye Pod, we discuss a truly incredible little lemur with evolutionary superpowers: the fat-tailed dwarf lemur! Dwarf lemurs are the only members o

Rules for Free-ranging: Fall 2025

Aye-aye Pod is back! In this episode, we cover what’s kept us away, what you can expect in future episodes, and what happens at the Duke Lemur Center as we transition int

S4E7 You Have to Work with People: A Lemur Reintroduction Story

With nearly 40 years of experience working in Madagascar conservation (15 of which were spent living in Madagascar), Charlie Welch has an incredible wealth of wisdom to s

S4E6 Writing the History of My Country: Finding Extinct Lemurs

The fossil record of Madagascar is incredible. There are unicorn-horned meat-eating dinosaurs, colossal flightless birds, and lemurs the size of gorillas. Dr. Noromamy Ra

S4E5 Tromping Around in Madagascar: Seed Dispersal and Lemurs

Forests are complicated places, and the species inhabiting forests are dependent on each other in a complex network that we call ecology. Camille Desisto is an ecologist

S4E4 How We Problem Solve: Ruffed Lemur Cognition

So how smart are lemurs, exactly? How do we even start to figure that out? Meet Ray Vagell, researcher and graduate student from Texas State University who uses SMARTA (a

S4E3 Lemur Kindergarten: Social Dynamics in Ruffed Lemurs

Dr. Andrea Baden and her team have spent a lot of time in the rainforests of eastern Madagascar learning about the social lives of ruffed lemurs. In this episode, she sha

S4E2 I Follow the Lemurs: Ruffed Lemur Husbandry

This week, we’re chatting with one of our wonderful colleagues Madison Armand about her role as a primate technician (our version of a zookeeper here at the Duke Lemur Ce

S4E1 Beautiful Beards: Meet the Ruffed Lemurs

This season we’re leaping into the world of ruffed lemurs – beautiful lemurs with big personalities. In this episode, we discuss the basics of the two species in the Vare

S3E7 – Keep Doing the Hard Work

We are wrapping up our sifaka season with Malagasy scientist and conservationist, Mamy Razafitsalama. Mamy’s work in and around Ankarafantsika National Park, which serves

S3E6 – Analyzing the Genomes

Sifakas are beautifully adapted to their environment. Dr. Elaine Guevara studies the source of these adaptations in the genetic code of sifakas (and other primates). Elai

S3E5 – Thinking Long-term

Why don’t you see sifakas in most zoos across the US? How do we plan which sifaka have babies, and where those babies will live? DLC Animal Curator Britt Keith not only m

S3E4 – Bouncy… Like Tigger

Lemurs can really move. Like jumping-dozens-of-feet-from-tree-to-tree move. Like Tigger on a trampoline move. Dr. Gabe Yapuncich is a researcher at Duke University who is

S3E3 – The Magic Hour

Ever wondered what a lemur that is adapted to conditions across the world in Madagascar eats in the forests of North Carolina? Dr. Lydia Greene wondered that very same th

S3E2 – A Lot of Time and Attention

Who better to open this season’s interviews than someone who has spent over a decade caring for Coquerel’s sifakas? Melanie Currie has been a primate technician (AKA anim

S3E1 – The Dancing Lemur

Welcome to season three of Aye-aye Pod. We’re finally getting to the lemur that everyone falls in love with when they visit the Duke Lemur Center: sifakas! We’ll introduc

S2E5 – So Many Extinct Lemurs

In the final episode of our season on ring-tailed lemurs, Matt and Megan are joined by biological anthropologist, paleontologist, and primatologist Dr. Laurie Godfrey. La

S2E4 – What We Have to Do

If you’ve read Allison Jolly’s quintessential book Lords and Lemurs, or perhaps you’ve watched the Island of the Lemurs IMAX film, then you already know this week’s guest

S2E3 – A Day in the Life

What does it take to care for ring-tailed lemurs a world away from their native Madagascar? Lead Primate Technician Danielle Lynch joins us to discuss the complexities of