Shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, chatter on the safari bus transporting the 17 class five students from Althea Scatliffe Primary School quickly turned to monkeys. 
“Girl, I bring my camera. I never see monkeys. I want to see monkeys,” one student sitting in the second row of the bus said. A few hours later, she and her classmates, along with nine other class two students from the Robinson O’Neal Memorial Primary School in North Sound, got their wish. A field trip to Necker Island Tuesday showed the students the rare assortment of native and non-native animals that Sir Richard Branson keeps on the island.
After the group had seen giant tortoises, scarlet ibises, and the 200-strong flock of flamingos, students ventured to the southeastern side of the island to view the nine ring-tailed lemurs that Sir Richard controversially imported to the Virgin Islands in May.
Sir Richard’s plan to relocate the non-native lemurs to Mosquito Island raised local and international criticism earlier this year when news of the project first became public. Much of the concern came from scientists who feared that if released into the wild, the lemurs would decimate the population of the dwarf gecko, a dime-sized creature endemic only to the VI.
To counter those fears, Sir Richard said that a compromise was reached with environmentalists. Instead of letting the animals free on the island, they will live in an enclosed area, the acreage of which is still being determined. The space will be large enough to give the lemurs room to breed, he said.
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See the June 23, 2011 edition for full coverage.