Talk:John Buettner-Janusch

Dr. B-J's academic history prior to 1965
Prior to 1965, Dr. B-J had traveled to Madagascar and had collected, primarily, lemurs and galagoes, but also a few baboons, some of the small, large-eyed nocturnal primates, and some other larger primates. The plan was for his collection to be housed at Yale. However, once at Yale, some dispute arose between him and the then president, Kingman Brewster. Dr. B-J was unhappy to the point of wanting to leave, taking his animals with him. He made a point of naming one lemur Kingman and another, Brewster as a good-bye insult Yale's president. Duke University seeing an opportunity, reached out to B-J and offered him a faculty position and a state-of-the-art animal care facility. Dr. B-J accepted this offer; and, in 1965, he & the animals arrive at Duke. One hitch, the animal care facility has not been built but work on it is soon underway. So, while awaiting completion of the building the animals are maintained in, basically, their traveling cages. A regrettable situation which lasts for right around a year. Research in various forms starts rather quickly on the animals. Periodically, blood is drawn to assist in research both by 'dr. B-J and by Peter Klopher (sp?) and other Duke professors. Sometime between 1966/67 the animals are relocated to the facility now in use at the Duke Primate Center. The site is large and other buildings have been added to the compound. Some of the lemurs have a large free-range area with the Duke Forest woods around the buildings. While some galagoes are still there, the bulk of the animals there are lemurs. Dr. B-J's animals went from tight quarters to a lovely, roomy building which is still something of a showcase. Do not know the circumstances of Dr. B-J's departure from Duke. Duke must have had a contract with B-J that required that the animals stay at Duke if he were to leave. And, the great-great grandchildren of the original group are still at Duke. 136.54.35.201 (talk) 13:21, 29 April 2023 (UTC)