Speaker:  Patricia Wright, PhD

Distinguished Service Professor

Stony Brook University

Topic: Lemurs – Earth’s Most Diverse Group of Primates

Madagascar is a strange place. It’s sometimes called the 8th continent due to its unique evolution and physical isolation. Ninety percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else. With no monkeys to compete with, Madagascar’s lemurs evolved into over 100 species, from the 3.5-inch Berthe’s mouse lemur (the smallest primate in the world) to the now-extinct giant sloth lemur (which weighed as much as a gorilla).