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P A G E 2
Studying Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs of Marojejy
Continued
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4
V O L . 3 , N O . 1
Why is Marojejy National Park so special?
Marojejy is unique in that it exhibits a great altitudinal range, including forests above
1400 m. As you hike uphill a few hours from the Park Entrance passing by Camps 1, 2 and
3 and reaching the research-only Camp 4, you experience striking changes in forest
structure, from primary low altitude rainforest, bamboo dominated forest, mid-altitude
primary forest and finally a cold high altitude habitat dominated by short and thick shrubs
and lower canopy trees. Under similar conditions at Tsinjoarivo forest, my team and I had
rediscovered a species of dwarf lemur (
C. sibreei
) a few years ago, which appears to be
restricted to high altitude environments. Thus, it was at least probable that
C. sibreei
may
be found at high elevation in Marojejy. Given the fact that Sibree’s dwarf lemurs are
critically endangered and only known
from
Tsinjoarivo
so
far,
the
confirmation of their presence at
Marojejy
would
be
extremely
important.
In fact, we were on a mission last
October to capture a Sibreei-like dwarf
lemur. Our team, comprised of two
guides (Desiré and Donatien), Manitra
(Malagasy student), Ferdinand (cook)
and myself, spent most of our time at
the highest elevation site, Camp 4,
intensively searching for the “high
altitude” dwarf lemur. Our days there
passed by delightfully, eating mangoes,
drinking espresso coffee and enjoying
rice and vegetables with tasty smoky
zebu meat, while also working hard
setting up traps above 3-4 meters in
the trees/shrubs, walking muddy
terrains on steep slopes and curling up
in our sleeping bags as temperatures
dropped significantly at night. On the
first, but sadly the only night, we
trapped a male juvenile whose
morphology resembled that of Sibree’s
dwarf lemurs. We were ecstatic to have in our hands, for the first time, a dwarf lemur
living in such a place, among slippery rocks, mosses and short shrubs; we were also very
hopeful that this individual would be different to dwarf lemurs living at lower elevations
within the Park. To find this out, we headed to the warmer and rainier Camp 2 for the last
trapping days of our expedition. We changed our isolated spot, tent and tarp-covered
kitchen routine for that of bungalows and a spacious Campsite “house” hosting tourists, as
well as researchers. At Camp 2, we captured two juvenile dwarf lemurs that matched
morphologically with individuals belonging to a different species:
C. crossleyi
. We also
sighted several dwarf lemurs during our nocturnal walks, including areas very close to the
campsite. Although genetic analyses are warranted to confirm species identification, it
looks like there are at least two sympatric dwarf lemur species at Marojejy, and maybe
“...it looks like there
are at least two
sympatric dwarf
lemur species at
Marojejy, and
maybe more.”
Another dwarf lemur trapped in the Camp 2 area.