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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5
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placed the box in the same place the dwarf lemur was originally retrieved from and con-
nected all the cables, we felt the rain falling and washing our sweat, and the cloud of
mosquitos following us around and wondered, once again, why a lemur would hibernate
in such a place. For the next few days we read through the computer files and identify
brain electric activity. Skin temperature (recorded by
the radio-collar) showed that the dwarf lemur was re-
luctant to go back into hibernation and, when he finally
did so, he happened to detach the last cable, almost
like a last desperate action before turning torpid. We
did collect some sleep and heart rate along with tem-
perature data, however.
Our drastically shortened mission – thanks to Air
Madagascar – did accomplish one goal, to show “proof
of concept” (that we can find a lemur in this habitat
and collect EEG and temp data). We spent the last day
in the forest gobbling up the last few kilos of rice and
beans and preparing the gear to return to Sambava on
the following morning. On July 20th, the day of depar-
ture, porters arrived with news of flooding around the
area. On our way in, we had to cross streams more
than 40 times, most of them rocky beds with little wa-
ter. To be cautious, we divided into two teams and placed experienced guides in charge of
finding the best way back. We all had underestimated the effect of the continuous rain
over the last week. It took more than twice as long to
get back and several crossings at waist, even breast
height. The tricky current of some crossings provided
an unexpected dose of adrenaline rush.
As we were back in Sambava, walking by the beach,
our feet sinking in sand while foamy waves were disap-
pearing in shiny fashion, we reflected on our precari-
ous, yet unprecedented data. We demonstrated that
greater dwarf lemurs still hibernate in humid, warm
low elevation forests, that they can hibernate up in the
trees but also underground occasionally, and we
“proved” that they can be studied using our methodol-
ogy. In the end, our scientific “stubbornness” only grew
stronger. Why would these large dwarf lemurs (700g)
hibernate in these humid warm forests? Was it the ge-
netic heritage of their ancestors? The evolutionary
“burden” to get fat as quickly as possible? Once they
become a big mass of fat, it would be detrimental not to hibernate (imagine an over-
weight dwarf lemur trying to jump across branches in the highest canopy level). The most
pressing question for us was to determine whether these lemurs, hibernating at relatively
warm temperature throughout the day and winter time would need to “arouse” in order
to satisfy physiological needs or would they be able to passively maintain relatively warm
Crossing a small river on the way back – Dr. Peter Klopfer and
Primot.
Monitoring EEG data in the field – individual is inside experimental
box underground.
A Tale of Bumpy Roads
Continued
