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I first met Erik Patel almost ten
years ago in Ranomafana when we
were conducting field work for our
respective dissertations. We recently
encountered each other, again at
Ranomafana,
when
we
were
attending the International Prosimian
Congress held in August 2013. By
chance, we were now working at the
same Institution as Postdoctoral
Associates of the Duke Lemur Center.
Erik became the SAVA Conservation
Project director, while my research
was on the ecophysiology of dwarf
lemur hibernation. Before saying
goodbye at the Congress’ party, we
talked about our work, our plans and
the possibility I would visit Marojejy
in the near future.
Logistics in Madagascar are
somet imes
chal lenging
and
organizing a trip can be a slow
process, but with Erik’s resolution
and expertise arranging expeditions
and facilitating research, along with
the help of Lanto, SAVA Project
Manager, and Manitra, a student
from the University of Antananarivo,
I was set to visit the forest of the “many mountains”, “lots of rain”, “lots of spirits” (that is,
Marojejy) in October 2013, only a couple of months after our meeting at the Congress in
Ranomafana!
After studying dwarf lemurs for several years at Tsinjoarivo, a high-altitude site in eastern
Madagascar, Marojejy presented itself as a great research opportunity, not only to expand
my ongoing work by adding a new rainforest location, but more importantly, to be able to
explore the ecological flexibility of dwarf lemur hibernation in a single site. An additional
incentive was the possibility to discover more than one dwarf lemur species living at
Marojejy, because no trapping had yet been conducted at this forest.
Conservation news from the
S
ambava-
A
ndapa-
V
ohemar-
A
ntalaha region of NE Madagascar
FEBRUARY 2014
Vol. 3, No. 1
I NS I DE TH I S
I S SUE :
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST :
Studying the Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs of Marojejy
By Marina B. Blanco, Ph.D.
Marina with a dwarf lemur captured in the Camp 2 area.