The founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the university to "develop our resources, increase our wisdom and promote human happiness." To these ends, the mission of the Duke 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. The Duke Lemur Center is funded by the National Science Foundation, Duke University and private donors.

The founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the university to "develop our resources, increase our wisdom and promote human happiness." To these ends, the mission of the Duke 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. The Duke Lemur Center is funded by the National Science Foundation, Duke University and private donors.