Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Citizen Science: Pet Lemur Project. Have you seen a pet lemur in Madagascar?

Pet lemur in Madagascar. Photo from Citizen Science: Pet Lemur Project.

Have you seen a pet lemur in Madagascar? Please help a friend of mine, Kim Reuter, collect data on pet lemur in Madagascar and help inform a research program (Citizen Science: Pet Lemur Project) that is seeking to understand the pet lemur trade in Madagascar. Please take the survey here.

Pet lemur in Madagascar. Photo from Citizen Science: Pet Lemur Project.
About the Survey of Pet Lemurs of Madagascar project

The Survey of Pet Lemurs in Madagascar project aims to increase understanding of the pet lemur trade in Madagascar, which may be impacting over 28,000 lemurs every three years. Surprisingly, not a lot of known about the pet lemur trade, and this research program is aiming to change that!

This research program - a collaborative program by researchers at the University of Utah (USA) and Temple University (USA) - will collect information on the ownership of pet lemurs in Madagascar from the general public. Specifically, we are interested in the experiences that individuals living in or visiting Madagascar have had with pet lemurs over the past 20 years. We hope that our study can help inform conservation efforts aimed at protecting these endangered species.

Adults who have visited Madagascar and who have seen a pet lemur are encourage to participate by telling us about their experiences with those pet lemurs using our web-based form. Participation is expected to take approximately 5 minutes, is anonymous and voluntary, and can be completed at any time. More information about this study can be found by contacting the research team here!

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