Duke Lemur Center Welcomes It's First Birth Of The Season, The Granddaughter Of The Famous Star Of Zoboomafoo

The legendary bloodline lives on! For those of you who don't know, before there was Grumpy Cat, Youtube, or Vine, there was Zoboomafoo, and he was a classic. Jovian, a Coquerel's sifaka lemur was the star of a 90s short-lived PBS wildlife show called Zoboomafoo. In the show, he would bounce around, snack and stare at the kids of the show. He sadly passed on in 2014 of kidney failure at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, N.C. He was 20½ years old.

Now, The Duke Lemur Center has announced their first birth of the season and it just so happens to be the granddaughter of the legendary Jovian! Check out the new pictures released of Marie, a critically endangered Coquerel's sifaka born February 23, 2019 to first-time parents Gertrude and Remus!

Posted by AmyBrown

1
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.

Via Duke Lemur Center / Photo by David Haring
Advertisement
2
'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."

Via Duke Lemur Center / Photo by David Haring
3
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,

Via Duke Lemur Center / Photo by David Haring
4
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).'

Via Duke Lemur Center / Photo by David Haring
Advertisement
5
The people on Twitter are obviously excited about this news:

Via @PalomaRead
6

There was a problem rendering this video - it may have been deleted.

Via @Jake_Stenberg