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Conservation news from the
S
ambava-
A
ndapa-
V
ohemar-
A
ntalaha region of NE Madagascar
DECEMBER 2014
Vol. 3, No. 3
I NS I DE TH I S
I S SUE :
S P EC I A L PO I NT S
OF I NTER E S T :
In the Heat of the Moment:
I cannot bear to stay inside my
tent – I am sweating profusely,
just sitting by the open door, in
the shade. A few days ago we left
the coastal town of Sambava in
two 4x4s, drove for less than 2
hours and hiked the rest of the
day, for about 6 hours, forming an
endless line with 43 porters
carrying equipment and food for a
3-week expedition. We stopped a
couple of times to rest and to
switch porters between villages. I
enjoyed a warm orange Fanta
along the way, a delightful treat
even for a non-soda drinker like
me. After a short night at the Madagascar National Park office in the village of
Antongodriha and a quick breakfast the following morning –a sizable pile of rice– we set
our sight to our destination: LAT = -14.323508°, LONG = 49.686426°.
Earlier this year, Dr. Erik Patel and I had searched Google Earth with hopes of finding a
low-elevation patch of dry forest within Marojejy National Park to conduct surveys, and
that’s where the pin had dropped on the satellite image. The main objective of the
expedition was to find out whether
Cheirogaleus medius
, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur, was
living there. Fat-tails are commonly found in western deciduous forests in Madagascar and
appear to be dry forest specialists. Yet, the species has been previously observed in
northern and northeastern Madagascar (e.g., Daraina forest) and thus, it was at least
conceivable to find the species somewhere within the park. Our previous expeditions to
Marojejy had only included areas around the tourist circuit (far east side of Marojejy),
where we were able to identify not one, but three dwarf lemurs species:
C. sibreei
(a high
altitude species, found above 1400m), in addition to
C. crossleyi
and
C. major
, the two
largest dwarf lemur species, living side by side at lower elevation rainforest, near Campsite
2.
As we arrived at our theoretical destination on the complete other side of the park (far
west side), GPS in hand, we found ourselves on the top of a grassy hill. Thus, we had to
by Dr. Marina Blanco
Searching for Fat-Tails in Rainforest Lowlands of Marojejy
The village of Antongodriha.
Photo by Marina Blanco