[6][7] The mission of the Duke University Lemur Center is to "promote research and understanding of prosimians and their natural habitat as a means of advancing the frontiers of knowledge, to contribute to the educational development of future leaders in international scholarship and conservation and to enhance the human condition by stimulating intellectual growth and sustaining global biodiversity.

"[8] In 1997, the center began a program to reintroduce black-and-white ruffed lemurs into the 5,500-acre (2,200 ha) Betampona Natural Reserve in Madagascar, the first return of any prosimian primates to the island nation.

The total cost of the two-buildings, designed by architects Lord, Aeck & Sargent of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was $10.4 million.

[10] The children's television show Zoboomafoo, produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), was filmed at the Duke Lemur Center.

[13] On 10 November 2014, Jovian, the Coquerel's sifaka who portrayed Zoboomafoo in the series of the same name, died of renal failure in his home at the Duke Lemur Center at the age of 20.