Marie, an infant sifaka, tastes leaves for first time

Four-week-old Marie, clinging securely to her mother Gertrude’s abdomen, nibbles sumac leaves for the first time. Marie, a critically endangered Coquerel’s sifaka, is the Duke Lemur Center’s first infant of 2019. She is also the granddaughter of Jovian, lemur star of the Kratt brothers’ beloved PBS children’s show “Zoboomafoo.”

Infant sifakas begin to sample solid foods and leaves at three or four weeks, and might begin to take a few tentative steps away from their mothers at this time. Nursing continues, in a steady decline in importance in the infant’s diet, until she is weaned at approximately five or six months of age.

Click here to learn more about Marie's birth at the DLC:

Video courtesy of Becca Newton, the family's primary caretaker for Marie's first weeks of life.

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