Jovian the Coquerel’s sifaka lemur who was featured on the children’s television show Zoboomafoo died of kidney failure Monday, according to the Duke Lemur Center’s website. He was 20 years old.
According to the center’s website, Jovian was born at the center in 1994. While in a group with his parents, one from Madagascar and the other born at the center, Jovian was filmed in June of 1997 by brothers Chris and Martin Kratt, who were looking into starting their own kid’s wildlife show for PBS. The brothers wanted a lemur co-host named Zoboo for their program, to which would be played by a puppet part of the time.
Jovian and his father were then picked after several auditions due to their appearance, Jovian to act as the real lemur while his father Nigel was the model for Zoboo’s puppet.
"They and their family were, and still are, the most distinctively beautiful sifakas in our colony, as well as being the easiest and most delightful animals to work with," said David Haring, the center's registrar and photographer.
The Kratt brothers therein returned in October of 1997 to record the lemur for two weeks with a completely erected stage set known on the show as Animal Junction.
"He was great to work with," said Martin Kratt, who was also a Duke graduate who had volunteered at the center while attending school. "He'd jump in through the window and we'd feed him mangoes or garbanzo beans. Sometimes he'd grab our noses with those soft sifaka hands."
After the TV crew left, Jovian went on to becoming a father in the enclosure. The center reports that Juvian bore 12 sifakas lemurs by two different partners. His health began to decline in the winter of 2013, but stabilized during the summer months where he was able to experience one of the newest free-range enclosures as the center.
"Watching our young interns get excited over being in the presence of the real Zoboomafoo this summer made me realize just how lucky those of us at the Lemur Center were who had the opportunity to get to know the real Jovian in his prime," Haring said. "He was a playful, gentle, intelligent animal and perhaps one of the best sifaka sires ever."
According to the Lemurworld.com, Coquerel's sifaka lemurs are only found in the wilds of Madagascar and have a life expectancy of 27 to 30 years in the wild.
Image courtesy of Vince Talotta/Toronto Star via Getty Images