As they creep, jump and chatter, their bushy striped tails curl and uncurl like animated barber poles. Compared to monkeys and apes, prosimians have smaller brains, less dextrous fingers and a greater reliance on smell. Prosimians divide into several subgroups. Lorises and galagos inhabit tropical forests of Asia and Africa. Tarsiers are native to the Philippines and other parts of East Asia.
Lemurs are native only to Madagascar.
The largest and most plentiful animals at Duke are the lemurs. The center's nocturnal species occupy indoor cages during the colder months. In one, an aye-aye mother and infant peer down placidly from a branch. Their bulging orange-yellow eyes, beaverish teeth, coarse opossumlike fur and big ears suggest a koala crossed with a squirrel. A slender loris maneuvering around another enclosure calls to mind a rat on stilts.