Zoboomafoo Dies: Fans, Co-star Mourn Death Of Lemur From PBS Series
Zoboomafoo lemur dies at the age of 20. The lemur named Jovian starred on the popular PBS series Zoboomafoo during its time on air. News of the lemur’s death came on Wednesday after the Duke Lemur Center, which housed the animal during his life, posted about his death on the Duke Today site.
Zoboomafoo aired on PBS between 1999 and 2001, and the series featured two human stars, Martin and Chris Kratt. The hosts of the series were also brothers, and they spent most of their time working with a puppet lemur on the series. The series taught children about wildlife, and the brothers wanted to show off a real lemur to their fans. Jovian can be seen jumping happily around in the footage of the Zoboomafoo theme song.
Martin Kratt found his Zoboomafoo star at the Duke Lemur Center. He had volunteered at the center while he was a student at Duke, and he returned to the center to look for a lemur to use for Zoboomafoo. Jovian was born in 1994 at the center, and he lived his life at the center.
Jovian died on Monday at the center of kidney failure. Martin Kratt immediately expressed his sadness over the loss of the adorable lemur from Zoboomafoo. He spoke out about Jovian’s death in an obituary shared by the Duke Lemur Center.
“He was great to work with. 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.”
Kratt also shared a message about the death of Jovian on The Wile Kratt Brothers Twitter on Wednesday. The message included a photo that called Jovian their friend. Jovian was picked as the model for the lemur on the series after the Kratt brothers auditioned many lemurs for the role.
Today, we remember our friend, Jovian also known fondly as Zoboo 1994-2014. pic.twitter.com/0W8k5dFPZc
— Wild Kratts Official (@WildKrattsOffic) November 12, 2014
David Haring, a photographer who worked at the Duke Lemur Center, spoke out about the process that led to selection of Jovian and his father Nigel for Zoboomafoo.
“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.”
Zoboomafoo aired on PBS for 65 episodes over the two seasons it was on air, and episodes of the children’s television can still be seen in syndication from time to time. Fans of the series visited their own Twitter accounts to express their sadness over the loss of Jovian.
Anyone wanna cry and dry their tears with pizza crust hit me up #Zooboomafoo #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/Ep1Ihk6t3c
— Debron Cinderella ? (@abracadebra94) November 12, 2014
Jovian left behind a mate, three children, and four grandchildren. The death of Jovian is not the only animal news this week. The Inquisitr recently reported on the auction of a 56-pound lobster. A fisherman caught “the god of lobsters” and sold it for £60,000.
What do you think of the death of Jovian? Do you remember watching Zoboomafoo when it aired on PBS?
[Photo: Duke Lemur Center Facebook]
