Four million dollars split 250 ways is only $16,000. Not exactly a lot of money for a single person to live off or build a new house. Thankfully though, we're talking about lemurs not people. The new financial commitment from top University officials makes Duke's colony the richest group of prosimians ever.
Lemur catta, Eulemur fulvus and Propithecus diademda represent the true rags to riches American success story. Spending the last couple of years living in matriarchal societies diligently eating fruits, vegetables and chow pellets until finally they were recognized as a worthy aspect of scientific research, the prosimian collection can sit back and enjoy the myriad studies in which they will participate. Only a year ago, discussions surrounding the center's fate involved a dispersal of the primate collection to other institutions. This, however, would have been more difficult than anyone could ever imagine, since zoos are currently over-populated and cannot house any more prosimians.
Most institutions plan to reduce their current populations over the next several years. The Great Hall could have served lemur burgers, but increased center research and new support from President Nan Keohane, Provost Peter Lange and Vice-Provost James Siedow will prevent such an exotic delicacy.
While other major universities, like the University of Chicago, de-emphasize their organismal research in favor of other fields such as genetics and biomedical research, this new financial commitment is an important step in the right direction. Organismal research allows researchers to observe and better understand an individual species' development and how conspecifics differ due to environmental variations, despite their genetic similarities.
Conversely, genetics can help explain variances within a population. Genetic and organismal research complement each other, something that many institutions of higher education overlook in favor of the more financially lucrative and fashionable field.
Yet genetics on its own cannot explain why the recently discovered bamboo lemur in one day eats bamboo laced with enough cyanide to kill several people. Nor can genetic research explain weight fluctuations, which a certain genius researcher, who moonlights as a Chronicle columnist, currently studies. Furthermore, organismal studies can explain locomotion development, chewing evolution and many more topics presently researched at the center. At the same time, genetics will help explain a great deal about prosimian development and behavior that organismal biologists cannot discover with their research medium.
The two fields are entirely synergistic and it appears that Duke, unlike peer institutions understands this. Moreover, the research here does not simply apply only to prosimians. Humans and prosimians shared a common ancestor nearly 60 million years ago, and they serve as a morphological base for our development and can also reveal a great deal about our behaviors as well. For those of you who still don't believe in evolution, you should support the center's inhabitants since they're some of God's cutest creations.
Despite the good news and increase in research, much work remains before the mission of the Primate Center is entirely fulfilled. The new funds, according to Vice-Provost James Siedow "will come from an almalgam of sources including external fund-raising." He further speculated that almost $20 million would be needed to endow a $1 million annual operating budget. That's more money than most people have, but since we're Duke, we have a supportive group of donors to make our financial goals a reality. Dr. Hylander mentioned a possible Duke in Madagascar program, which would provide an excellent opportunity for undergraduates to research at the center and then conduct fieldwork.
Research also can continue to increase, which will hopefully occur with better facilities. Despite this concentration on research, the center eventually has to take on a conservation role. This field is rather abstract and will therefore allow the University to choose how it participates in preserving these species in the wild. Less than eight percent of Madagascar's original habitat remains. If we do not protect these animals, then research will raise questions that cannot be answered outside of the environment where they evolved. That's the frustrating aspect of research, no matter what question gets answered, and it undoubtedly raises many others.
For now though, before embarking on any new projects, this geek is going to sit back and thank the administration for forking out some cash for the primates, who finally are helping to accomplish some of the University's goals.
On a completely unrelated note and with 170 words left I'll sound off on Duke football. Duke should hire Coach Ted Roof. First of all his name is a noun, so that's pretty cool, much like our previous coach Franks (synonym for hot dogs). He could build a tradition here and would be loyal to Duke. Not to mention he'd be less expensive than a premier coach, so Duke could avoid embarrassing questions like, "Why are you paying a coach $1 million when the stands are empty and professorships are being cut?"
He may not be the ultimate answer to Duke's football problems, nor will he fill every seat next year with an increasingly tough schedule, which is why Duke should recruit a kangaroo to play fullback. It would be Air Bud meets Kangaroo Jack. If those box office thrillers taught us anything it's that people like to see animals doing human activities. A kangaroo would be a perfect football player too, it's fast, has a pouch to hold the ball and can pancake block with its feet or completely immobilize a blitzing linebacker with a tail whip. This might not be the best solution, but if you agree or disagree, listen to WXDU's Sunday Night Feast from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday nights, it's the only sports talk show on campus.
Kevin Ogorzalek is a Trinity senior. His column appears every other Tuesday.
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