Unusual animals of Madagascar. The amazing fauna of Madagascar Madagascar what kind of animal

January 22, 2014

The amazing plants of the island of Madagascar are no less interesting than its landscapes. The tropical humid climate, the organization of nature reserves, the regulation of the flow of tourists - all these factors favor the conservation of the nature of Madagascar.

And, although in the recent past some of the forests were cut down, the government caught on in time, and now measures to preserve the unique vegetation are producing the first results.

“Tree of Travelers” - a Madagascar miracle

Ravenala is perhaps the most famous tree that grows on the island. It resembles a banana, but, unlike it, it has a real trunk. Huge leaves radiate from its top. In those places where the cuttings of large leaves connect to the trunk, there are special “pockets” that contain up to several liters of cool water.

Thirsty travelers are always glad to meet this amazing tree, which helps them quench their thirst. It’s like a “living well” among the sultry roads. That’s why they called the Madagascar ravenala “the tree of travelers.”

Lianas - amazing plants of the island

There are natural wonders in every corner of the island. Lianas are one of them. These miracle plants grow in hot soil of several species at once.

Many of them are used by local residents for economic purposes. Ropes, baskets and rugs made from stems are very durable and serve people for a long time.

The entada liana provides the island's inhabitants with its huge pods for arranging the roofs of their huts. Why not take advantage of what nature provides?!

After all, these pods are huge in size: the length is almost 2 meters, and the width is more than 1.5 meters! If you split 4-5 pods in half, then building a roof from them will not be difficult!

Liana stephanotis is a plant that has soft white beautiful flowers. Five crown-shaped petals decorate the forests of Madagascar everywhere.

Interesting fact. The vines of Madagascar are the only plants on the island that are not touched by nimble termites.

Trees of Madagascar “in the service” of humans

The island's dense evergreen forests are home to many trees, the wood of which is used in furniture production. Valuable species, for example, majestic rosewood, have expensive raw materials in black, pink, and purple colors.

There are also plenty of plants that produce valuable rubber in these places. Kapal tree resin provides material for making varnish.

Uvirandra - decoration of Madagascar reservoirs

Aponogeton Madagascar or uvirandra grows in the fresh waters of the island. In its natural environment it is in danger of extinction.
Aquarists all over the world use this plant for landscaping aquariums. It is very beautiful.

The tuberous rhizomes are edible. The oblong leaves reach a length of more than half a meter. Leaves in water are arranged horizontally.
The flower sways in the wind on a long stem (up to 1 meter in length). In the rivers of Madagascar, flowers rise above the water by almost 20 cm.

The plants of the island of Madagascar are for the most part endemic, that is, they are not found anywhere else in the world. Getting to know the beautiful natural world of Madagascar will enrich your understanding of how diverse and unique the plants of our planet are.

Plants of the island of Madagascar photo

The largest island of the Indian Ocean - Madagascar - is often called by geographers "a continent in miniature".

This is explained, firstly, by the extraordinary diversity of its landscapes, and secondly, by the unique flora and fauna that distinguishes it from nearby Africa and from other parts of the world.

The combination of tropical rainforests, tall grass savannas and even semi-deserts, mountain ranges, plateaus and coastal plains, extinct volcanoes and coral reefs, swampy lagoons and mangroves, monsoon and trade winds determines the existence of a wide variety of landscapes on the island, and the animals and plants of Madagascar, three quarters of which are found only here, are not at all similar to African ones, and if they have relatives, it is usually in Indochina and Indonesia, and even in South America.

Madagascar is a mountainous country. Almost half of it is occupied by the High Plateau, stretching across the entire island from north to south.

On the eastern coast, where trade winds bring moisture from the Indian Ocean, it rains, stormy and heavy, almost every day. Due to the strong wind accompanying them, the rain jets are directed almost horizontally, and no umbrellas or awnings can protect you from them.

Strictly speaking, there is a distinction between wet and dry seasons.

But the latter, lasting from May to November, differs only in that occasionally there are days without precipitation.

In July, at the height of winter, the thermometer shows plus sixteen, and in February the temperature reaches thirty-four degrees.

On the steep slopes of the plateau grow evergreen forests of ferns, tamarinds, palms and other tropical trees, entwined with vines and decorated with colorful orchids.

There are many valuable tree species in these forests. In different types of rosewood, for example, the wood can be purple, pink and even black. There are also rubber plants here. And varnish is made from the resin of the copal tree.

But of all the trees in Madagascar, the most famous is the ravenala.

In appearance, it looks like a banana, only the banana has leaves that grow straight from the ground, and the ravenala has a real trunk, from the top of which huge leaves diverge, like the spokes of a wheel, torn by the wind along the edges.

Where the leaf cuttings gather towards the trunk, there are special containers containing several liters of water.

Having met a ravenala, a tired traveler can always quench his thirst. It is not for nothing that it is also called the “travelers’ tree.”

The vines of Madagascar are unique. The pod of one of them, the entada vine, reaches two meters in length and one and a half meters in width!

Several of these pods, split in half, serve perfectly as a roof for a hut. Ropes are made from vines, baskets and mats are woven.

And some, especially durable ones, are used to build houses, since they are the only plants on the island that termites do not touch.

In the west, where the mountains do not allow rain clouds to pass through, savanna reigns, and in some places in the south there is a hot semi-desert, since precipitation here is rare and falls only in winter.

During the dry season, not a drop of moisture is shed for months, and the temperature rises to forty degrees!

Forests in the west are found only in river valleys, and the savannah is overgrown with tough, brush-like grass, and only here and there small baobabs and fan palms grow.

Trees in the western part of the island shed their leaves in the winter so as not to evaporate moisture during the dry season.

The uniqueness of the fauna of Madagascar can only be compared with that of Australia.

The main treasure of the island's fauna is, of course, lemurs.

These funny animals, resembling a cross between a monkey and a cat, live in forests and are nocturnal.

They have large eyes that glow in the dark and a shrill voice that resembles the capricious cry of a child.

The largest of the lemurs are the indri.

They are easily tamed, and the inhabitants of the island - the Malagasy - often use them for hunting instead of dogs.

Another genus of lemur, with a fox-like head and a long tail, is the maquis.

They are very lively and active, keep in flocks and often catch your eye in the evenings when they jump through the trees in search of tasty fruits.

The complete opposite of them is the slow loris.

This clumsy and clumsy baby is as slow as an Australian koala.

Also interesting is the aye-aye, or little hand-footed lemur, an angry flat-headed lemur with huge ears and a very long tail.

It lives in bamboo forests, feeds on the core of bamboo and sugar cane, and does not disdain beetles and larvae.

With its long fingers, the aye-aye easily extracts the contents from the trunks of bamboo and reeds. This gourmet is very afraid of light. As soon as the sun rises, he falls asleep with his head between his legs and his long tail wrapped around it.

The Malgash consider lemurs to be sacred animals. There is a legend that once upon a time they were people, and then, living in the forest, they grew hair and turned into animals.

When meeting a lemur in the forest, hunters always politely greet it, and animals that accidentally fall into a trap are certainly freed and released into the wild.

The only predator on the island is the reddish-black fossa - the ferret cat.

She is the size of a large dog, but not tall, since her legs are short.

Malgashi are very afraid of fossu. There are many legends and hunting stories about her bloodthirstiness and strength.

Found in Madagascar, the mongoose is the main snake killer.

And in mountain forests live shy and timid eared hedgehogs - tenrecs (lat. Tenrecidae).

These rather large (rabbit-sized) animals emerge from their burrows only at dusk and busily begin to look for food - small insects.

In winter they hibernate.

The Madagascar bird world is vibrant and unusual.

Here you can find green parrots, bright red cardinals, blue pigeons, Sultan's hens, ibises and guinea fowl.

Once upon a time, huge Epiornis birds, similar to giant cassowaries, lived on the island.

The height of these giants reached five meters! They became extinct quite recently, since Marco Polo mentioned them in his book. And later, in the 18th century, sailors sailing to the island heard the cries of these birds.

The giant egg of Aepyornis was equal in volume to 150 ostrich eggs. The Malgash made vessels from them that could hold eight liters of water.

There are no poisonous snakes in Madagascar, and the only truly dangerous animals here are crocodiles. The swamps and lakes of the island are literally teeming with them.

And among European collectors, the amazingly beautiful butterflies of Madagascar are held in special esteem.

Goliath - the largest of them - can easily be mistaken for a bird.

This is a brown butterfly with a pink belly. Urania is surprisingly picturesque, rightly considered the most beautiful butterfly in the world.

Her wings seem to shimmer with all possible colors. The Madagascar butterfly also amazes with its intricate pattern on its wings.

There are a lot of chameleons of various sizes on the island.

Because of their unattractive appearance, malgashes consider them to be evil and harmful creatures, although in fact they bring great benefit by exterminating flies and other annoying insects.

The chameleon, in fact, is a relative of lizards, but nature clearly deprived it of agility.

Sometimes it seems that in his veins there is not blood, but carpenter's glue - his movements are so viscous and slow.

And only the chameleon’s tongue is thrown forward with lightning speed when the prey is within reach.

The chameleon is known primarily for its extraordinary ability to change color to match the color of the surrounding background, which makes it completely invisible in the forest.

The unusual animals and plants of Madagascar are widely known, but there is an amazing place in the west, about the nature of which even the inhabitants of the island know little.

This is the Bemaraha plateau, located in the Manambolo River basin near the coast of the Mozambique Channel. Everything here is amazing: fantastic terrain, animals and plants; perhaps the last untouched corner of Madagascar’s wild nature has been preserved here.

The limestone plateau of Bemaraha rises 400 meters above the Manambolo Valley. The river cut through it a grandiose gorge with white layered walls. And around the gorge there is... a stone forest!

Bizarrely carved by karst processes, the rocky ridges - karrs - bristled with thousands of sharp peaks, between which the water made deep cracks, and turned each boulder into a sharp jagged sword.

The huge rocky labyrinth is practically impassable: limestone towers and walls overgrown with thorns have formed a network of natural bastions throughout the plateau, reliably protecting it from aliens.

The Bemaraha region is poor in precipitation: the dry season here lasts up to eight months. And in fractured limestones, even the moisture brought by rare rains quickly sinks into the depths, so only plants well adapted to drought can survive here.

An ebony tree, for example, turns green only during the rainy season, and the rest of the time it stands naked, saving water.

The baobab, on the contrary, accumulates water in its gnarled and powerful trunk, up to nine meters thick, and thanks to this it survives during the dry season.

Bizarre creatures inhabit the stone forest of Bemaraha.

It is an armored chameleon that resembles a small dragon or dinosaur with its spiny spines on its spine and pointed knobs on its head.

A peculiar Madagascar rat with large ears is also found here.

If you don't notice its long tail, it could easily be mistaken for a rabbit.

And on the trees that grow in the crevices of the rocks, little monkeys and poppies live, enlivening the deserted rocky landscape with their funny jumps and piercing screams.

Groups of outlier rocks formed by karst processes are found in other places in the world, for example, in the Qingling region of China or in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

But there these limestone pillars and towers always have a rounded or flat top. And only here, in Madagascar, such an amazing pointed stone forest arose.

The attractiveness of this corner also lies in the fact that not a single person has yet visited the depths of the plateau, and one can only guess what discoveries await scientists there.

The nature of Madagascar still keeps many secrets that will be revealed only to inquisitive travelers who have managed to overcome all the difficulties that arise for the pioneers of the mountains, jungles and mysterious rock labyrinths of this unique island.

When Admiral Etienne de Flacourt published his History of the Grand Island in 1658 Madagascar”, summing up his long stay in this corner of the Earth, it contained a lot of the most incredible information, perceived as fables of travelers, and their veracity was established only centuries later.

Speaking about birds “inhabiting forests,” Flacourt, for example, wrote: “Vurupatra is a large bird living in Ampatra, lays eggs, like an ostrich, in the most deserted places.”

After Flacourt, other travelers wrote about the huge bird, and they were also called dreamers. And she also laid eggs, larger than those that ostriches “produce,” and the locals used them as utensils.

Here is what Ferdinand von Hochstäcker writes:

“Madagascars came to Mauritius to buy rum. The containers they brought with them were egg shells eight times larger than ostrich eggs and 135 times larger than chicken eggs; they held more than 9 liters. They said that these eggs are sometimes found in desert areas, and birds are occasionally seen.”

It is clear that all this was perceived as anecdotes. If an ostrich with a height of 2 meters 50 centimeters was considered a giant monster bird, then what can we say about a giant that laid eggs eight times larger than an ostrich?

As Orientalists believed, these rumors were nothing more than an echo of the legend of the Rukh bird from the tales of the Arabian Nights, a terrible creature that had earned a dubious reputation among Arab sailors. She was so huge, they said about her, that when she appeared in the sky, a shadow appeared: her wings covered the sun. And she is so strong that she can grab an elephant and lift it into the air, and impale several animals on its horn at once. It happened that she carried away entire ships with crews...

On his second voyage, Sinbad the Sailor encountered this bird after he found an egg. It was 50 steps wide!

When Herodotus wrote about giant African birds, their size seemed more modest: Egyptian priests told him about a race of flying giants who lived on the other side of the source of the Nile, and they had the power to lift a person. Let us remember that the largest eagle is able to lift a creature no larger than a rabbit...

Marco Polo in the fourteenth century heard echoes of the same tale from the lips of Kublai Khan. The Asian ruler showed him the feathers of a bird “about 20 meters long” and two eggs of considerable size. And he added that Rock comes from the island of Madagascar on the south side.

Thus, the stories about the Rukh bird and the Malagasy legends coincided in time and space. But it seemed incredible that a bird weighing several hundred kilograms could rise into the air. But it was believed that if a bird is a bird, it must certainly be able to fly. And the Rock bird, also known as Vurupatra, was declared a fable.

Epiornis eggs

Years passed, and in 1834, the French traveler Goudeau picked up incredible-sized halves of shells on the island, which served as bottles for local residents. He made a drawing and sent it in 1840 to Paris to ornithologist Jules Verreau. He, based only on the appearance of the egg, named the bird that laid it epiornis, “big bird.”

A few years later, this name, which initially aroused suspicion, was legitimized when Dumarel saw a whole egg in the vicinity of Diego Suarez in 1848. “It held 13 bottles of liquid.”

And in 1851, it was finally officially recognized that there were giant birds on the island: the captain of the merchant ship Malavois brought to the Paris Museum two eggs 32 centimeters long and 22 centimeters wide. They mixed in about eight liters (8 ostrich and 140 chicken eggs). From one such egg you can make an omelette for 70 people.

A few more years later, the famous traveler Alfred Grandidier brought from the Ambalistra swamps bones of an indeterminate type that, at first glance, belonged to some kind of pachyderm. But research has shown that these are bird bones (“elephant birds”). To be honest, ornithologists were not very surprised, because a few years earlier R. Owen described moa from bone remains from New Zealand. Based on the available material, Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire described the species Aepyornis maximus.

In fact, epiornis is not at all larger than moa in height (moa is 2 meters 50 centimeters tall). The Paris Museum has a restored skeleton of Aepornis - 2.68 meters. But this is also a very big increase.

Epiornis eggs

To be honest, there is no direct connection between the growth of a bird and its egg. Remember the kiwi from New Zealand: its eggs are comparable to those of an ostrich, and the bird itself is no larger than a chicken. And in terms of weight, the following data is obtained: 440 kilograms for the largest apiornis and 329 for a medium-sized moa.

When do giants disappear?

A study of the bones of Aepyornis showed that, unlike the legendary Rukh, this real bird did not know how to fly. Like other keelbirds, its relatives are the cassowary, moa, emu... Their wings were underdeveloped.

But is it the same bird that Flakur designated under the name Vurupatra? The eggs that were found in the sand in the dunes of the south and southeast or in the mud of the swamps were suspiciously fresh, as if they had just been laid. And the bones didn’t look like fossils...

They began to question the residents. They answered that the birds were found in the remote corners of the island, but they were seen very, very rarely. But naturalists, still under the influence of Cuvier, do not want to believe this, so no one today not only searched for the bird, but also studied the reasons for its disappearance.

Epiornis skull

One thing is obvious: man could not be the only reason for its death, unlike the story with the moa vurupatru, or vorompatru, was not exterminated for meat. There is not a word about this in the legends (and the Maori were happy to talk about hunting moa using simple pikes with a stone tip).

In an attempt to explain the death of Aepyornis, they went as far as asphyxia caused by gas releases in certain areas of the island. But isn't it too difficult? Most likely, it has to do with the habitat areas themselves. The climate changed, people drained the swamps, and the last refuges disappeared.

The giant swamps dried up in the highlands of Antsirabe and Betafo. Epiornis climbed further and further into the swamps and died there, not finding food. This is proven by their remains found in peat bogs. It is clear that man hastened the end of the vorompatra, it survived until recent times, until 1862 (when the inhabitants clearly saw it), not reaching quite a bit to the present day.

Other giants of Madagascar

Various factors contributed to the death of not only Epiornis, but also other species, such as Mullerornis, the giant cassowary of the Ankaratra region, Centornis and many others. But isn't it too early to bury them?

Just like on the neighboring islands - Seychelles and Mascarene - the giant tortoise Testudo grandidieri weighing up to one ton was found here. She apparently became a victim of drought. But according to Raymond Decarie, an expert on the fauna of Madagascar, the extermination of the turtle was not widespread.

“There are rumors about the presence in certain caves of the southwest of a mysterious creature that may turn out to be a giant turtle - are we talking about the last representatives of Testudo grandidieri?” - writes the zoologist.

Testudo grandidieri turtle shell

Another species: in Madagascar there were giant crocodiles, whose skulls reached 80 centimeters in width. There is evidence that they are still here.

The total drainage of the swamps led to the disappearance of hippopotamuses on the island. Previously, there were giants here, reminiscent of the Pleistocene hippopotamuses of Africa. Didn’t the great wanderer Dumont D’Urville write about them in 1829 in his book “Travels Around the World” while sailing along the rivers of Madagascar?

On the other hand, there is an assumption that it was the hippopotamus, or rather its image, transformed by the legend, that served as the basis for the myth of the tsogombi or ombirano - a water bull, half mule, half horse with a hump.

If we are talking about a hippopotamus, then it has changed a lot in the legends, because Tsogombi has huge hanging ears. In addition, he was “gifted” with a scream that would terrify anyone, as well as aggressive cannibalistic habits. The Mahafaly and Antrandon tribes, according to R. Decarie, attribute to him eggs that actually belonged to Epyornis.

There are also rumors of railalomena, which means "father or ancestor of the hippopotamus." He supposedly lives in swamps, and has a horn in his forehead. All this is very reminiscent of the famous "Dinosaur from the Congo" ( ). Perhaps the Bantu invaders who appeared here brought with them descriptions of a mysterious creature from the continent.

Both hypotheses have a right to exist, and in both cases there are similarities with the Congolese reptile - the body of a hippopotamus, horn, drooping ears (which in fact may be fleshy growths on the edges of the head and are visible on the dragon from the portico of Ishtar), oviparity, talking about a reptile , swamp habitat, aggressive character and, finally, wild screams.

If this creature lived in Madagascar, it could certainly have become one of the first victims of the drying out of swamps and lakes. Unless, of course, it's a giant turtle. Or a touring crocodile from the continent...

Tretretre and the man with the dog's head

Madagascar is called the land of semi-fossil animals. No other island can become such a showcase of ancient history. The remains of animals, birds, and reptiles often turn out to be so fresh that many wonder: are their “owners” alive?

Often legends and oral traditions claim that people knew them until relatively recently. Let us recall Gennep's principle, according to which memories of events are lost within two centuries where there is no oral tradition. That is why there is such great interest in the memories of travelers.

In addition to the epiornis, Flacourt wrote about another mysterious animal: “Tretretretra, or tratratratra, the size of a bull and with the face of a man. It is reminiscent of Ambroise Pare's tanakht. This is a solitary animal, and the inhabitants of that country are afraid of it and run away from it...”

The first reaction of naturalists of that time was, naturally, unambiguous - a myth. Nothing like this has ever lived in Madagascar; there have never been real monkeys there. Especially such an amazing view. So, someone repeated the naive fables of Marco Polo and Ctesias?

The first camouflage was removed with the discovery of the indri (Indris brevicaudatus), the largest living lemur, fitting the description of a "dog-headed man." It is about a meter high, almost without a tail (stump), often stands on its hind legs, being on the ground, it surprisingly resembles a person. Its elongated muzzle looks more like a fox than a dog.

Looking at him, you understand why members of the Betsimaraka clan both killed and deified him, calling him babakoto (father-child), considering him the descendant of a man who retired to the forests. Let us add that all lemurs for the Malagasy are fadi (taboo), because it is believed that this is another incarnation of man.

And at the end of the 19th century, the remains of a huge fossil lemur were found in Madagascar, which was called Megaladapis. The height of an adult Megaladapis was comparable to the height of a short person, the weight was supposedly up to 70 kilograms (for Megaladapis Edwards even up to 200 kilograms).

Megaladapis is believed to have gone extinct as early as the 10th millennium BC, but radiocarbon dating suggests that Edwards' Megaladapis was still living in Madagascar at the time Europeans arrived there in 1504.

Megaladapis

In those same years, remains of Paleopropithecus were discovered in Madagascar. Paleopropithecus is a genus of subfossil lemurs that lived in Madagascar from the Pleistocene to historical times. Paleopropithecus was also a large primate, weighing from 40 to 55 kilograms.

Paleopropithecus definitely lived in Madagascar at the time humans appeared there (the latest remains from the Ankilitheo deposit, according to radiocarbon dating, date back to the 14th-15th centuries AD). They could also be what was called a tretretre.

The fading heart of Gondwana

Logically, one could look for the same part of Gondwana in Madagascar as on the African continent. In fact, the island is not an African zoological province. Malgash animals are characterized, on the one hand, by the originality of their forms, and on the other hand, they are related to the forms of South America and the Indo-Malayan region.

Among the typical forms of Madagascar are lemurs, which differ from other primates in a number of anatomical features. It was for this appearance that scientists gave them the name “lemurs,” as the Romans called the phantoms of dead people. But lemurs live not only in Madagascar. Some are common in Africa - galago, potto and angwantibo, and in Malaysia - lorises and slow lorises.

But in Madagascar there live forms completely unknown in Africa. Moreover, they are famous in... the Antilles! And in South America. This whole cocktail is explained by the presence of the once huge continent of Gondwana.

A study of the fossil remains of lemurs showed that even in the recent era there were a great many of them. Magaladapis were true tree-climbing rhinoceroses. They did this despite their size, thanks to their tenacious fingers. And there were many others. And looking at them, you think that Flacourt’s descriptions do not seem so fantastic.

Who is Tokandia - a “four-legged jumper” that lives in trees and makes human sounds? Who are the Kolonoros, the Malagasy gnomes?

“All tribes,” writes Decarie, “believe in some semblance of our dwarfs, brownies and gnomes. Their names vary by region: bibialona, ​​kotokeli, and so on. Colonoro is something of an amphibian. On Lake Alcatra they live like sirens or mermaids with long fluffy hair, they live in the water, they reach out to pies, they grab children.”

According to the beliefs of the Betsileo, the Colonoro, on the contrary, is a land creature two cubits high, covered with long hair, he has a wife named Kotokeli, and lives in caves. She steals children from people and replaces them with her own.

In the Kinkong Lake area, the Sakalawa have a different concept of colonoro. This is a male creature that lives along the banks of ponds. Dimensions are less than a meter. He has a sweet feminine voice, eats fish, and walks around the neighborhood in the evenings. Meets a man, talks to him and lures him into a pond.

Strange legends spread throughout the island, fresh bones found in the southwest, and the conditions of their occurrence indicate that Hadropithecus (another ancient species of lemur) may have survived into recent eras in the region of Bara, Ancazoabo.

Many areas of Madagascar are still completely unexplored, and giant lemurs could survive on these millions of hectares of forest. Remember the okapi - he lived incognito for a long time.

The nature of the island has changed greatly under the influence of centuries-old agricultural activities of local pastoralists and farmers. Most of the country's territory was allocated for economic needs, and today many landscapes are secondary and cultivated. But there are many places in Madagascar that will delight travelers with their brightness and exoticism.

Madagascar has a tropical climate: it is warm all year round. Differences in climate on the island are explained by different altitudes, terrain and distance from the coast. It is humid in the north; the climate here is equatorial monsoon: in summer the north-eastern monsoon winds blow, in winter south-eastern. In the east, the island receives less moisture as it is intercepted by the Central Highlands.

Tropical island off Madagascar

Heavy rainfall throughout the year explains the large number of rivers on the island: in the east these are short rivers with rapids and steep slopes, in the west they are large and full-flowing, collecting water from tributaries that run down from the highlands.

Fauna and flora of Madagascar

It is necessary to separately describe the flora and fauna of the island, because, as you know, thanks to them Madagascar is one of the most unique places on the planet from a biological point of view. About 80% of Madagascar's flora and fauna are unique. You need to start with the lemur - the symbol of the island, the main component of all its biodiversity. Lemurs are prosimian primates that were once found throughout the world. The monkeys that appeared some time later replaced the lemurs, and only in Madagascar, in complete isolation, were they able to survive. Today there are 60 officially registered species of lemurs on the island, each with its own interesting behavioral characteristics: Indri lemurs sing like whales, Aye-Aye extract insects from tree bark with their fingers, and Verreaux's lemurs show amazing dances.

Madagascar lemur

Among Madagascar's predators, interesting animals include mungos and Malagasy civets. Also, a giant fossa used to live on the island, but due to the extermination of the giant lemurs it hunted, this species became extinct.

Half of the bat species on the island are unique, and seven species are even listed in the Red Book. 99% of the frogs in Madagascar are endemic species and are not found anywhere else. Madagascar is home to geckos, radiated tortoises, spider tortoises and Madagascar tortoises. About 80% of the plants are unique; the flora of the island is considered one of the richest. The famous baobab grows here - “a tree with roots at the top”; in the southwest there grows a prickly bush, similar to a cactus.

History of Madagascar

About two thousand years ago, the first people appeared in Madagascar - the Malasians, a mixture of Africans and Asians (some scientists, however, put forward theories about the earlier settlement of the island). Many of the settlers were Polynesians or Malays. In 800-900, Arab traders appeared on the island and traded along the northern coast.

Malagasy house

In 1500, the first European set foot on Madagascar - the Portuguese captain Diego Diaz, who was heading to India and lost his course. Having discovered Madagascar, he named it St. Lawrence Island. In the 15th century, England, Portugal and France tried to establish trading settlements on the island, but local Madagascar warriors stopped these attempts. Only at the end of the 16th century did Europeans manage to gain a foothold in Madagascar, the eastern coast of which at that time was controlled by pirates who used the island as a base to attack merchant ships heading from India to Europe.

The fourth largest among the islands. The territory of Madagascar is almost 600,000 square kilometers. The Arkhangelsk region occupies approximately the same amount. Out of almost 90 regions of Russia, it is in 8th place.

Madagascar was also once part, not of a country, but of the ancient continent of Gondwana. However, the island broke away 160,000,000 years ago. Isolation and, at the same time, an abundance of food and fresh water led to the development of the animal world.

Evolution led him in a special way. Bottom line: - more than 75% of Madagascar’s animals are endemic, that is, they are not found outside the republic. Madagascar gained sovereignty in the 1960s. Before this, the island belonged to France.

It was discovered by the Portuguese Diego Diaso. This happened in the 16th century. If you haven’t visited Madagascar since then, it’s time to discover the world of its inhabitants.

White-fronted Indri

Represents the Indriaceae family, which includes 17 species. All of them live only in Madagascar. White-fronted, for example, occupied forests from the north of the Mangoro River to the Anteynambalana River.

The animal belongs to the wet-nosed primates. Accordingly, it resembles a monkey with a wet nose. More precisely, the endemic is the lemur. This is a transitional stage from lower mammals to primates.

The white-fronted indri is named due to its color. The fur on the lemur's body is white, but the forehead area is accentuated by a black collar on the neck and a dark muzzle. The animal reaches a meter in length. This comes with the tail. The weight of an indri is 7-8 kilograms.

In the photo there is an indri lemur

Crowned lemur

This animal weighs only 2 kilos and is up to 90 centimeters long. Its slenderness allows it to jump long distances, from branch to branch. The tail helps with gliding. The lemur gets its name from the dark spot on its head.

The main color is orange. Like all lemurs, crowned lemurs live in packs. They are led by females. So King Juklian from the famous cartoon is a doubly fictional character.

Pictured is a crowned lemur

Lemur vari

Vari is one of the largest animals living in Madagascar. This refers to lemurs. Among them is a giant with a body length of about 120 centimeters. At the same time, the animals weigh only 4 kilos and, like their small counterparts, eat fruits, berries, and nectar.

Varna has a contrasting color. The muzzle is framed by white whiskers. The fur on the legs and back is also light. The remaining areas are “filled” with black. You can see the wari in the east of the island, in the mountains. Their height is approximately 1,200 meters above sea level.

In the photo there is a lemur

Ring-tailed lemur

These animals of Madagascar not only the height of a cat, but also their ears similar to it. The tail of representatives of the species is powerful, with black and white rings. The body is gray, pinkish or brownish on the back.

In the cartoon “Madagascar,” by the way, Julian represents the “cat” family. On the screen he holds his tail up. In nature, this is done to appear taller and to scare away enemies.

The second position of the tail is not described in the cartoon. The organ serves as the 5th leg, supporting the animal when standing on its hind legs and walking along thin branches.

Pictured is a ring-tailed lemur

Gapalemur

The primate is distinguished by its large big toes. The color of the animals is brown. The fur is dense and short. Brown eyes on a round head with almost invisible ears give the impression that the lemur was in a hurry. Therefore, representatives of the species are often called meek. The total length of gapa bodies does not exceed 80 centimeters, and their weight is 3 kilograms.

Gapas differ from other lemurs in their tendency to swim. Representatives of the species settled in bamboo thickets near Lake Alautra, in the northeast Madagascar. Animals in the photo often found in water rather than in trees.

However, hapalemurs still feed on vegetation. The stomachs of animals are able to neutralize cyanide contained in bamboo shoots. Therefore, like pandas in China, gapas are not poisoned by the plant.

Pictured is Gapalemur

Sifaka nut

In general, the little hand is a most curious creature that thousands of tourists are eager to see. The animal is, however, nocturnal. Under the shadow of darkness, it digs out from under the bark and stones with its long fingers.

In the photo there is a Madagascar little hand

Fossa

Fossas hunt lemurs and live solitarily on the ground. True, you have to climb trees to find lemurs. The hunter can be given away by a guttural growl reminiscent of a cat.

In the photo there is a fossa animal

Madagascar rat

Speaking what animals are in Madagascar are endemic, I would like to mention the giant one while it is possible. The species is dying out. Its habitat is only 20 square kilometers north of Morondava.

This is one of the cities of the republic. As you drive away from it, you see rats the size of and several similar to them. So, the animals have muscular hind legs. They are needed for jumping. The ears are elongated. Animals press them to their heads when they jump almost a meter in height and 3 in length.

The color of giant Madagascar rats is closer to beige. In nature they live in burrows and require the same in captivity. The first offspring outside the habitat were obtained in 1990. Since then, they have been trying to replenish the population artificially.

Pictured is a Madagascar rat

Striped tenrec

In the photo there is a tenrec animal

Madagascar comet

We are not talking about a cosmic body, but the largest in the world. It is classified as a peacock eye. All members of the family have bright, round patterns on their wings that resemble pupils.

The comet inhabits only the island of Madagascar and its animals not averse to feasting on the fleshy body of an insect. However, the butterfly only lives for a couple of days. Comets starve, using the resources accumulated in the caterpillar stage. Enough supplies for a maximum of four days.

The butterfly was named Comet because of the extensions on its hind wings. The “drops” at their ends reach 16 centimeters with a wingspan of 20 centimeters. The general color of the insect is yellow-orange.

Pictured is a comet butterfly

Madagascar cuckoos

From the cuckoo family, 2 endemics live on the island nearby. The first is the giant look. Its representatives reach 62 centimeters. The second type of endemics is highlighted in blue. True, the size of the birds is not much inferior to their giant relatives. Blue cuckoos reach 50 kilos and can weigh about 200.

Pictured is a Madagascar cuckoo

The total number of birds in Madagascar is limited to 250 species. Almost half of them are endemic. The same goes for insects. The comet butterfly is just one wonderful creature of the island. There are also giraffes.

Weevil giraffe

Their noses are so long and curved that they resemble a long neck. The body of insects, at the same time, is compact, like that of. A tomato frog can eat such a delight. She is orange-red.

Tomato frog

It’s problematic to eat it yourself. The endemic secretes a sticky substance that glues the predator’s mouth together and causes allergies. By the way, Madagascar itself is also called red. This is due to the color of local soils. They are colored by clay. So, this is the right place for tomato frogs on the “tomato” island.