(March 30, 2015) When
Jonas the lemur died in January, just five months short of his thirtieth
birthday, he was the oldest of his kind. A primate called a fat-tailed dwarf
lemur, Jonas belonged to a long-lived clan. Dwarf lemurs live two to three
times longer than similar-sized animals.
In a new study, Duke University researchers combed through
more than 50 years of medical records on hundreds of dwarf lemurs and three
other lemur species at the Duke Lemur Center for clues to their exceptional
longevity.