P A G E 3
V O L . 4 , N O . 2
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5
A Tale of Bumpy Roads, Flooding, and Hibernation
We had anticipated that our adventure was going to
begin once we were in the forest, trying to find and cap-
ture one of the hibernating lemurs from the top of a
thick and slippery tree. In reality, all began in Antanana-
rivo, the capital of Madagascar, while patiently waiting
for our flight to Sambava (closest town, with an airport,
to get to Marojejy National Park). Air Madagascar, the
only available domestic airline, had been on strike for a
few days, but every day we were in “Tana”, our hopes
were renewed with optimism, only to be crashed again
a few hours later: “there may be a flight tomorrow, call
tonight at 7pm” they told us at the Air Madagascar
office, day after day. As our days continued to pass by
while we were secluded in a quiet hotel near the air-
port, we made the difficult decision to take the painful
way to the forest. We would leave behind our hopes for
the 1h 30 min-flight to Sambava and take the road
north, with 4x4s, and spend the next 3 days in bumpy
fashion. The first two days we covered ~940 km, the
third day ~300km in 15 hours. The bed at the Sambava
hotel never felt so good that last night.
Our research team was comprised of Dr. Peter
Klopfer, emeritus professor at Duke and leader of the hibernation research project, Wade Hubbs, Duke undergradu-
ate student, assisting with data collection, Carly Pate, volunteer from Washington State, Jean Basile Andriambelos-
on, student assistant from University of Antananarivo, Parfait Rafamatanantsoa, tree climber and long-term field
assistant from Tsinjoarivo, Primot, a local Marojejy guide, Lex, the cook, and myself. We all gathered for the expedi-
tion on Tuesday morning, July 14th, after a day of intensive shopping and equipment arrangement. We drove for 1.5
hours to Marojejy National Park Kiosk in Manantenina, where we picked up our 29 porters (for a week-long mission)
and hiked for about 2 hours to our low-elevation site on the east side of the Park. We set up camp under a refresh-
ing light rain, if we had only known that heavy rains will accompany us for the whole expedition…
My last news from this site, from a short mission I had conducted in late May 2015, indicated that 5 radiocollared
greater dwarf lemurs (
Cheirogaleus major
) were already hibernating up in trees, unlike other eastern dwarf lemur
species (
C. crossleyi
and
C. sibreei
) we had previously studied at other eastern sites, which hibernated underground.
This immediately posed an additional challenge. Would we be able to get those hibernating lemurs –any of them– to
study their physiology during our mission? That’s why Parfait was there with us. Our tracking of radiocollared dwarf
lemurs on the day of our arrival, was a little puzzling. One of the collars was found under water, bad news; signals
from 3 of the remaining collars came from the top of trees, as expected; one of them, however, pointed down, near
tree roots. I was hesitant to believe there was an actual lemur there, because there was no precedent of a greater
dwarf lemur hibernating underground. We returned to camp that afternoon with some trepidation about this indi-
vidual and prepared our gear for the following day. The gear involved wires, cables, computer, bags and other lab
supplies all covered in plastic.
Our fears were unfounded. We “unburied” the furry ball and began the operation. Electrodes were place under
the scalp and securely taped – an experimental box awaited the just-aroused lemur. We kept our fingers crossed
that our lemur would eventually go back into hibernation without disconnecting the wires in the process. As we
by Dr. Marina Blanco
The challenging road to get to the SAVA.
