Beautiful Madagascar
With its unique wildlife and magnificent landscape, the island’s natural wonders need to be preserved
YOU’D be forgiven if Alex the lion, Marty the zebra or Melman the camel were the first things that spring to mind when you hear the word Madagascar. The characters in the popular movie have played a big part in introducing young audiences to this island in the Indian Ocean about 420km off the southeast coast of Africa.
And although the Big Red Island, as it’s also known, has no lions, zebras or camels, it does boast fascinating animals and plants, many of them unique.
GEOGRAPHY
Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo. Unlike nearby islands Mauritius, the Comoros, Réunion and Rodrigues, it wasn’t created by volcanic eruptions. About 165 million years ago the island broke away slowly from the supercontinent Gondwana and drifted away over millions of years to its current position.
Madagascar has an area of about 587 040m². The climate is tropical along the coast with an average temperature of 30°C. The interior has a moderate climate with an average temperature of 25°C. The south is arid. The rainy season is from November to April and May to October are drier and cooler months.
The highest point on the island is Maromokotro mountain, at 2 876m above sea level, and the lowest point is where the land meets the Indian Ocean at 0m above sea level (there are no deep valleys below sea level).
Madagascar has several biomes – from rainforests and deserts to tropical dry forests and coral reefs. A unique feature is its high-altitude “stone forests” called tsingy that consist of limestone needles formed by karst erosion.
PEOPLE
Humans started inhabiting the island in about 350 AD when people from the Malay Archipelago travelled there in canoes. Waves of Arab, African, Indian, Portuguese and French traders reached the island in the following centuries. Madagascar was colonised by the French in the 19th century and gained independence in 1960.
About 27,7 million people live on the island, with about 3,5 million of them in the metropolitan area of the capital, Antananarivo.
The local people are called Malagasies and there are more than 18 tribes, as well as small groups of French, Indian, Comoran and Chinese residents.
French and the local language Malagasy are the island’s two official languages. In 2010 the Pew Research Centre found that 85% of the population identified as Christian, 4,5% practise folk religions, 3% are Muslim and nearly 7% follow no religion.
In 2019, businessman Andry Rajoelina became president. The Malagasy ariary (MGA) was adopted as the currency in 1961 and R1 is worth about MGA265. Agriculture is the main sector of the economy and includes farming coffee, vanilla, sugar cane, cloves, rice, bananas and livestock. Industries, although few, include textile production, processing of meat and seafood, and manufacturing of soap, cars and paper. Tourism is also an important source of income for the island.
FAUNA AND FLORA
Madagascar’s plant and animal life developed in isolation from Africa and India, which is why it’s so unique. About 89% of its plants, 92% of its mammals and 95% of its reptiles are found only on the island.
Since humans came to Madagascar at least 17 animal species have become extinct. Deforestation, erosion and natural disasters such as droughts and locust plagues have raised fears for the island’s unique fauna and flora.
More than 90% of the rainforests have already been destroyed. Fortunately there are now lots of national parks that will hopefully save animal and plant species from extinction.
Among the island’s most famous plants are giant baobab trees. Of the eight species of baobab in the world, six are endemic to Madagascar. The biggest baobab, the endangered Grandidier’s baobab (Adansonia grandidieri), can live up to 3 000 years and can reach 30m in height.
Lemurs You’ll find King Julien, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) in the film Madagascar, and his kingdom of more than 100 species and subspecies of lemurs on the island. Many are critically endangered and 95% could become extinct within 20 years if they’re not protected. Though they might look like squirrels or bears,they’re primates, an order that includes monkeys and humans.
They range in size from Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae), with an average length of 9cm, to the teddy bear-like indri (Indri indri), which is 73cm long on average.
Madagascan pochard (Aythya innotata): There are just more than 100 left in the world, making this diving duck one of the rarest on Earth and critically endangered. In the 1990s scientists thought they were extinct in the wild – until 20 were discovered in Madagascar in 2006.
Giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa): This plant-eating bug is about 2,5cm long and has an unusually long neck – hence its name. Weevils – a type of beetle – aren’t harmful to humans and live mostly in rainforests.
Blue coua (Coua caerulea): This little blue bird is part of the cuckoo family but unlike other cuckoos it builds its own nest and hatches its own eggs. Only one egg is laid in the breeding season. The blue coua isn’t endangered.
Tomato frogs (Dyscophus spp.): These frogs get their name from the reddish orange colour of their skin. Only the females are bright red – the males are browner. There are three species, of which the false tomato frog (Dyscophus guineti) is endangered due to loss of habitat.
Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox): This is the largest carnivore on the island and preys mostly on lemurs, birds and tenrecs. This cat-like hunter grows to 80cm long and has an impressive tail of 70cm. Its conservation status is vulnerable. Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae): About half the world’s 200 species are endemic to Madagascar. These lizards are known for their ability to change colour, their swaying gait and sticky tongue that shoots out to catch bugs.
Both the world’s largest, Parson’s chameleon (Calumma parsonii), which can grow up to 68cm long, and smallest chameleon, the Nosy Hara leaf chameleon (Brookesia micra), which measures only 29mm, are found on the island.
Leaf-tailed geckos (Uroplatus spp.): There are 19 species of these well-camouflaged nocturnal lizards that have brown skin and short, flat tails that look like a leaf. The common flat-tailed gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) grows to about 30cm, whereas the spearpoint leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus ebenaui) reaches only 10cm. These little creatures are nearthreatened because of loss of habitat and the illegal trade in exotic reptiles.
Tenrecs (family Tenrecidae): These are a diverse group of small mammals with three subfamilies, eight genera and 31 species. They look like hedgehogs, shrews, rats or mice, and mostly live in humid forests. Their sight is poor but their whiskers are supersensitive. Some, like the lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi), have spines, while others, like the tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), have coarse fur. The tailless tenrec is the largest member of the Tenrecidae family, growing up to 39cm long. It can hibernate for nine months at a time. Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis): Also known as the long-fingered lemur because of the long, thin middle finger of its six digits, which it inserts into holes it’s gnawed in trees to pull grubs out. At an average length of 90cm, it’s the world’s largest nocturnal primate.