Word: madagascar
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...were about to quit for the afternoon on our tour through the Antasibe-Mantadia National Park in eastern Madagascar when the guide caught a flash of brown fur through the trees. He signaled to our traveling party silently, and we crept off the narrow path and through the thick tropical forest, hoping for a closer look. Russell Mittermeier, the president of Conservation International (CI) and a renowned primatologist, made the call. Tucked inside a hollow tree trunk were two greater bamboo lemurs, each the length of a forearm, staring back at us with orange eyes. We grabbed our cameras...
...That isn't as straightforward as you might think. New species are discovered constantly - the total number of known mammalian species is up 19% since 1992. Though they're the largest type of animals, mammals range in size from the titanic blue whale to the tiny mouse lemurs of Madagascar, which can fit in the palm of your hand. What they have in common are clear threats from us. "Mammals are important because they play key roles in ecosystems and provide important benefits to humans," says Andrew Smith, a biologist at Arizona State University and one of the 103 authors...
...lovable lemur could be for Madagascar what the panda - the original adaptively cute animal - is for China, a charismatic minor species, a symbol of the nation and conservation. Having a species recognized by the world can motivate locals also to support conservation. "It's good for people to know that they have a species around them that the world cares about," says Mittermeier. Already lemurs are attracting growing numbers of tourists to Madagascar, as evidenced by the full camping grounds at the lodge where our group stayed in the Ankarafantsika Park, where sifakas all but drop in on the breakfast...
Jokes aside, a look around Madagascar's landscape shows that evolution still knows how to craft a good old-fashioned survival technique. While at Ankarafantsika, we were sternly warned not to stray too close to the beautiful lake just a few minutes walk from our bungalows, because crocodiles had snapped up and devoured several people over the last several months. When we took a boat trip on the lake late one afternoon, we got to see crocodiles sunning themselves on the shore, including one specimen more than 12 ft. long - most of it jaws. Cuteness is a nice evolutionary trait...
Click here for photos of Madagascar...