Museum of Life and Science

$350 provides 7 bags of chow

The Museum’s Red Wolves, Carolina and Jacques, eat a special variety of exotic canine chow as well as whole prey items that are scattered throughout the habitat. This encourages our wolves to use their sense of smell and natural hunting instincts. The Museum spends more than $2,000 alone on Red Wolf chow per year!

Red Wolves were once common in North Carolina, but now fewer than 400 individuals survive. The Museum is part of the nationwide AZA SAFE (Saving Animals from Extinction) Program, working to rebuild the species. From 1993-2025, 39 Red Wolf pups have been born here.

$200 provides nuts and training foods for two months

Welcome to our newest black bear, Montana!

Each year, the Museum’s bears, Little, Montana, and Murray, are fed approximately 2,000 pounds of bear chow, 250 pounds of nuts, and over 1,250 pounds of produce or dried fruit.

The Animal Care Team uses training as enrichment and to prepare our bears for vet procedures. Enrichment foods are provided each week, so these bears always have something to explore. Food-filled logs, frozen fruit, and even giant watermelons encourage behaviors these bears would use in the wild.

$80 provides a week of produce

The Museum’s ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) are an endangered species from Madagascar. They live in matriarchal societies, and Cassandra is the Museum’s only female ring-tailed lemur. In total, there are six lemurs at the Museum, including Cassanda, Oliver, and Oliver’s four male offspring. Fun fact, a group of lemurs is called a conspiracy!

Did you know that our Animal Care Team dedicates nearly 300 hours a year just to training our ring-tailed lemurs?

Ring-tailed lemurs aren’t native to Durham, but many live here in human care. Southwest Madagascar is threatened by habitat loss, poaching, and climate change. The Museum is part of a worldwide AZA SSP (Species Survival Program), an effort to protect species, including the ring-tailed lemur.

$42 provides a week of produce

Our pot-bellied pigs are omnivores whose diet consists of specialized feed, produce, nuts, and other foods. Apples are an especially pig deal to Pearl and Gustav. Chances are you’ll find them rooting in their habitat, using their snouts to push, nudge, and dig in the ground for food.

It requires several hours of staff time every week to shop, prepare, and clean up the produce for Gustav and Pearl.

$10 provides 1 hay bale

Your support is the donKey to our success! Born on November 6, 1998, Lightning is a gelding, the name for a neutered male in the horse family. Lightning’s yard often contains items he can pick up and explore as part of his enrichment program, and he is especially fond of the Jolly Ball. Lightning’s diet consists of hay, feed, and produce. He eats 12-15 lbs of hay a day!