Oakland Zoo has a brand new resident: a rare blue-eyed lemur named “Dern.”
Blue-eyed lemurs are a rare species. Oakland Zoo is one of eleven zoos in the U.S. to have the species and acquired seventeen-year-old Dern on a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan.
Blue-eyed lemurs are found in Madagascar and are threatened by hunting, trapping and forest destruction. There are reportedly less than one thousand blue-eyed lemurs left in the wild.
Dern relocated to Oakland from the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, TX.