Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 212 of Just the Zoo of Us.

This week in celebration of World Lemur Day, I am joined by a professor of anthropology

for a look up into the treetops of northern Madagascar to review crowned lemurs.

Our guest brings his insight from experience studying these charismatic primates to discuss topics like the rainforest dress code, what your cell phone has in common with lemur cognition, and the unbreakable interspecies bonds between primates that remind us humans of our own place in nature.

Just the Zoo of Us presents

crowned lemurs with Ben Fried. Hello everybody, it's Ellen Weatherford. I'm here with Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. And this week I have a new friend. I'm so excited to be speaking with Ben Freed to say hi, Ben.

Hi, Ben. Oh, come on. How dare you?

You told me. I'm so excited to be talking about our really cool animal for this week. We're going to be talking about a really cool, very charismatic and fun

primate. Before we talk about lemurs, I'd like for our friends listening at home to get to know you

a little bit, Ben. Let our friends listening

know what kind of work you do with our little tree-dwelling friends. Well, actually,

I'm a professor in anthropology over at Eastern Kentucky University, and I do a lot of teaching over

here. But when I get to do my research, it's in Madagascar.

I've started studying crowned lemurs a long time ago, but I did actually do work in Madagascar,

starting in, what, 1989, and periodically gone back to Madagascar in the same area.

I'm just stuck on the far north of Madagascar where the

crown lemurs are. They're just completely fascinating. And I will honestly say, if we're going

to be talking about crown lemurs, then we also have to talk about the other members of the family

that are there, the Sanford's lemurs too. But that's, you know, a little of where I am and what

do I study with them?

Just about everything.

Their diet, their ecology, their social structure, their social organization.

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