Pet of the Month - Maddie and Rosie DeVoll

Maddie and Rosie DeVoll are lucky Lemurs. They are a small part of Barry DeVoll’s family of exotic animals. Barry grew up in Cedar Falls and knew early on that he was a hands-on learner and he wanted to provide opportunities for other kids to explore and learn in tangible ways. He started with magic and animal shows as a young entrepreneur and those shows have blossomed into an educational show that travels nationwide. “Bixby and Friends” is a show that teaches families about conservation and how to best take care of the world that we live in.


Maddie was Barry’s first ring tailed lemur. She is 5 years old and just had her first baby, Rosie who is almost 2 months old. While lemurs are cute and social animals, they do not make good pets. After the age of 2, lemurs reach full maturity and their behavior becomes more unpredictable. In order to keep the animal handlers and the audience safe, Maddie is retired and lives a comfortable life in an animal sanctuary. Lemurs are very social animals, and have some human characteristics. They live in groups (called Troups) of 30-60 lemurs. They are adventurous and brave and also affectionate with other lemurs. They eat “monkey biscuits” (a prepared dry food with protein and vitamins) and many fruits such as bananas, papayas, star fruit, apples, strawberries but don’t really like vegetables. For treats they like to eat fruit loops, and fruit snacks.

Bixby’s Rainforest Rescue show can be seen every day this summer at Adventureland. There will be an 8 foot Burmese python, a green winged Macaw, and a kinkajou in addition to a ring tailed lemur that will bring the rainforest alive for the audience. If you get a chance, stop by this summer to see some of these amazing animals and learn how to best take care of our world.