Erin Ehmke

After surviving years in the remote jungles of Suriname, South America (not to mention the even more treacherous life of a graduate student), and years teaching Primate Biology and Behavior college courses, it is my honor to serve as the Director of Research at the Duke Lemur Center (DLC). From my first experience working with primates - at a Florida sanctuary that rescues abused or unwanted monkeys from the pet and entertainment industries - to my eventual fieldwork studying their wild counterparts, my path has always revolved around our closest, slightly hairier, relatives.

A primatologist whose previous work focused on social support and stress in wild capuchin monkeys, I became fascinated with how different lemurs are from the rest of the Primate order. I was especially thrilled to learn about the DLC’s non-invasive research policy and how beneficial such a program is, often enriching the lemurs’ physical and psychological well-being as well as helping us to learn a lot more about them, and often about ourselves.