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Welcome Marie!
The species at Duke Lemur Center have a unique naming theme, and the sifakas lemurs are named after nobles of the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Marie is named after Marie Luxembourg, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII.
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'First-time parents Gertrude (with Marie clinging to her belly) and Remus enjoy redbud blossoms delivered to their “baby suite.”'
"Gertrude has been an excellent mother: Right away she was very attentive to Marie, cradling and grooming her tiny infant throughout the day. Marie weighed 108 grams at birth, slightly heavier than a deck of playing cards. Although she failed to gain weight during her first few days of life, by March 2 she began to improve, nursing well, maintaining weight, looking bright and alert, and clinging tightly to Gertrude's abdomen."
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Special girl
She is the first infant born in the care of Greg Dye, new Executive Director of the Duke Lemur Center. "Marie's birth strengthens the genetic safety net we're building at the Duke Lemur Center to protect this critically endangered species from extinction," says Dye,
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Marie clinging to her mother's belly
The Duke Lemur Center released in their statement, '"In Madagascar, Coquerel's sifakas are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. As a group, lemurs are the most endangered mammals on Earth, with 95% of species at high risk of extinction. Coquerel's sifakas were uplisted from endangered to critically endangered in 2018 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).'
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The people on Twitter are obviously excited about this news:
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