Titus, center's senior lemur, dead at 25

DURHAM -- Titus, a lemur who lived most of his life at the Duke Lemur Center and loved to have his armpits scratched, has died.

He was 25 and the last golden-crowned sifaka in captivity.

Titus died Tuesday night after Lemur Center veterinary staff removed a tumor from his liver that was one-tenth of his 9-pound weight.

The shock of the surgery was too much for his elderly body, said Bevan Clark, the primate technician who had cared for Titus for the past two years.

Titus was born in 1983 in the wild in Madagascar, which lies in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa. He came to the Duke center in 1993, where his gentle nature made him a favorite among the staff, Clark said.

The News & Observer wrote about Titus when he first came to the United States.

"They seem glad to have visitors. The male, Titus, and the female, Messilina, eye you closely when they enter the cage. They climb around the cage to see whether you have food, grabbing your fingers and smelling," a 1993 story noted.

Titus was brought to the center to save his species. In Madagascar, sifakas live in a forest about the size of Durham County. They live nowhere else in the world.

At one time, the sifakas' habitat was much larger, and Madagascar's government was on the verge of protecting it. But then gold was discovered on the land, and the protection plan was abandoned.

The Duke Lemur Center was established in 1966 as a sanctuary for rare and endangered prosimian primates. Nestled on 85 acres in Duke Forest, the Lemur Center houses about 200 animals. It is the largest sanctuary of its kind in the world, according to its Web site.

Sifakas are social animals, but the Lemur Center never found a good match for Titus to live with after Messilina died in 1998.

Staff members became his buddies, Clark said. They visited him in his cage every day, and he was always happy to see them.

"He would make a wuffling sound when he wanted you to stay," Clark said.

A warm lemur

Titus begged to be scratched, especially under his arms, and he showed affection by grooming his caretakers.

"I could always count on Titus when I was having a bad day," Clark said.

Titus also loved his stuffed animal that was a multi-color mix of several stuffed animals sewn together by a staff member. The staff called it his "girlfriend," because he slept with it and hung out with it during the day, Clark said.

Titus adopted North Carolina as home, becoming fond of native plants, such as mimosa and sumac leaves. He also liked cucumbers, coconut and peanuts.

A year ago, Lemur Center staff discovered a tumor near Titus' liver. It was successfully removed, and he bounced back from the surgery. But during the Thanksgiving weekend, he stopped eating. Clark tried to entice him with his favorite foods. If she sat with him, he'd eat a little, but not much.

'That little arm'

On Tuesday, the staff thought they would have to euthanize him. So, one by one, staff members went into his cage and rubbed under his arms one last time.

"Although he was clearly ailing, he raised that little arm and seemed content as the people who had cared for him daily for 15 years said goodbye," the staff wrote on the Lemur Center blog. "There was not a dry eye in the house."

Tuesday afternoon, the veterinary staff decided to give him a bit more time by removing the tumor. After the surgery he was resting comfortably, and they thought he was saved. Clark went home to get some rest and had planned to come back and spend the night with Titus as he recovered.

She received the news at home. Titus had not made it out of the recovery room.

"Part of me was relieved because I knew he wasn't in pain anymore," she said.

But as she cleaned his empty cage Wednesday, she cried.

On Wednesday night, Clark and other Lemur Center staff gathered at Tyler's Tap Room in Durham for an unofficial memorial service.

They raised their glasses in honor of Titus.