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Wildlife photographer and author Nick Garbutt has never had any trouble coming across greater bam- boo lemurs in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park. That is, of course, until he purposefully tried to find them. But, as he discovered, the lemurs’ unex- pected elusiveness wasn’t just his bad luck, it was a sign that – as usual in Madagascar – all was not as it seemed. TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK GARBUTT Bamboozled! WWW.AFRICAGEOGRAPHIC.COMROGER DE LA HARPE37 he first inkling that we were getting close was not a fleeting along a pole, and I saw another the node, stripping off piece after BELOW Rainforest streams, like this one in glimpse, a bouncing branch in feeding near the base of a stem. We piece, until the thick pole (approx- Ranomafana National Park, provide giant the canopy, tell-tale vocalisa- edged closer carefully. I knew there imately 10 centimetres in diameter) bamboo lemurs with a permanent source tions or even a faint rustle in was little danger of spooking these was completely severed. of water. This vital requirement may be a the foliage. It was the remains particular animals, as they had Looking around, I could see a good factor in the species' highly restricted Tof a recent meal. There aren’t too many become tolerant and habituated number of similarly broken poles in range and territory. primates that can be identified instantly through long-term research. None- the immediate vicinity, where the by their dinner leftovers, but then the theless, manoeuvring cumbersome other members of the group had also greater bamboo lemur Prolemur simus – camera gear so as not to disturb them been feeding. Yet this short-term one of the world’s most endangered required caution. destruction seemed to have little long- primates – is different in so many ways. After a few minutes of quiet obser- term impact on the giant bamboo, In this instance, the recent meal was vation, I had counted six bamboo which was clearly thriving. One the stems of giant bamboo Cathario- lemurs in the group, including a reason is that nothing else feeds on stachys madagascariensis, which grows in mother with a very young infant. The the plant in this way: greater bamboo impressive, sometimes dense, tangled animal closest to the ground was a lemurs have effectively cornered the stands on the steep slope we were male and I watched intently as he fed. market. Another is that, after a period climbing. Most of the stems were ex- His technique was intriguing. Working of time, the lemurs move on to other MADAGASCAR tremely tall, some more than 20 metres from just above a node in the mature patches, leaving the quick-growing MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL Lac high, with their hard shiny exteriors giant bamboo pole, he would crack bamboo to recover. Alaotra intact, but in strategic places they had through the exceedingly tough stalk been ripped, quite literally, to shreds. with his teeth, then rip upwards, reater bamboo lemurs have TOROTOROFOTSY • MARSH Antananarivo No other animal has the inclination or peeling off a sliver of bamboo often evolved to epitomise special- ANDASIBE-MANTADIA ability to do this to giant bamboo. more than 30 centimetres long. There G isation, as they eat almost NP I was in Ranomafana National Park would be a pause, while he manip- nothing but giant bamboo (about in south-eastern Madagascar and had ulated the stalk and began eating it 95 per cent of their diet), although RANOMAFANA NP been tracking the species for three days from one end to the other. they do vary the parts that they target. Fianarantsoa • but, even with the help of expert local He would then return to the brok- They are the largest of the bamboo guide Stephane, the bamboo lemurs en node, bite into the bamboo pole lemurs and the only ones with jaws ANDRINGITRA NP had thus far eluded us. It highlighted once again and rip off another sliver. and teeth powerful enough to crack how hit-and-miss finding this par- Gradually, he worked his way around open the bamboo’s tough stems. ticular lemur can be. I’d been to Ran- INDIAN omafana numerous times and had often after a period of time, the lemurs move on to other OCEAN encounted them, sometimes with- patches, leaving the quick-growing bamboo to recover out a great deal of effort. But, it is not surprising that finding greater bamboo lemurs can prove problematic. They move in groups that cover extremely large home ranges, up to one square kilometre, which is far larger than those of other lemurs of similar size. They are, however, known to spend extended periods in more confined areas centred on good feeding. Find their favourite food and there’s a ABOVE With powerful jaws and strong good chance of finding them. teeth, the greater bamboo lemur is able This time, we knew we were close as to tear open the tough stems of giant the evidence was obviously fresh – the bamboo. inner pith of the bamboo was still very moist and there were recent droppings RIGHT Decimated plants provide con- on the forest floor. We continued up clusive evidence that greater bamboo the slope, moving into areas where the lemurs are in the vicinity. stands of giant bamboo became in- creasingly dense. Low down, their tall PREVIOUS SPREAD Madagascar’s answer pole-like stems crisscrossed one another to the giant panda, the greater bamboo in a mad tangle resembling piles of lemur tucks into giant bamboo, which discarded scaffolding, while at their provides 95 per cent of its dietary needs. tips, shoots and leaves reached eagerly for gaps in the rainforest canopy where chinks of vital light penetrated. It was in a particularly thick clump of bamboo that we finally found the lemurs. Almost at the same time, Stephane spotted one high up, moving 38 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • SEPTEMBER 2008 their territories are therefore confined to areas with THE A TO Z OF BAMBOO LEMURS both an abundance of bamboo and permanent Bamboo lemurs (Subfamily southern H. meridionalis from Hapalemurinae) Bamboo south-eastern rainforests; and sources of water lemurs are the smallest of the the western H. occidentalis, During the rainy season (mid-November no accurate overall population figures diurnal lemurs and, as their which is restricted to patches of to March), they concentrate on the were available, numbers were thought name indicates, they all have a deciduous forest in western sprouting ground shoots. After March, to be a few hundred at best and, in dietary preference for bamboo, Madagascar. All weigh between when the abundance of these shoots 2005, Conservation International listed a trait unique amongst primates. 0.7 and 1.1 kilograms, have declines, their diet shifts towards leaves the lemur as one of the World’s 25 Most Because of their engaging ap- rounded grey faces and are griz- and branch shoots, and from July to Endangered Primates. pearance, they are sometimes zled grey-brown in colour. They November they rely heavily on the Undoubtedly, much of the bamboo called ‘gentle lemurs’. In evo- have the broadest diets of the inner pith and stems. It is then that the lemur’s decline (and similar declines lutionary terms, they are bamboo lemurs – 80 per cent is lemurs cause the most destruction to experienced by countless other species) sufficiently closely related to bamboo (young leaves, branch bamboo. has been linked to Madagascar’s cata- the 'true' lemurs (Subfamily shoots and ground shoots), but Ranomafana is home to two of their strophic levels of deforestation. It is Lemurinae) – especially the ring- the remaining 20 per cent com- closest relatives, which between them estimated that barely 10 per cent of the tailed lemur Lemur catta – to be prises non-bamboo foliage, fruits, illustrate the merits of targeting differ- island's original forest cover remains. included in the same family, flowers, grass stems and fungi. ent resources. The eastern grey There may, however, be other factors to Lemuridae, yet different enough bamboo lemur Hapalemur griseus is the consider. to warrant being placed in their The Lac Alaotra bamboo most common species and is a relative In Ranomafana, visitors to the main own subfamily. Six species are lemur H. alaotrensis is very generalist, focusing on the shoots and trail network at Talatakely have a currently recognised, five in the similar in appearance, but young leaves of several bamboo reasonable chance of seeing the same genus Hapalemur and one in the slightly heavier (up to 1.4 kilo- species. It also consumes non-bamboo greater bamboo lemurs that I observed, genus Prolemur. All are social grams) than the grey bamboo foliage, fruits, flowers and grass stems. in the extensive stands of giant bamboo Although primarily diurnal feeders, and live in small groups that lemurs. It is extremely endan- In contrast, the golden bamboo lemur that flourish there. But, what about greater bamboo lemurs also feed at average four to six individuals. gered and is the only primate in H. aureus, like its larger cousin, is an elsewhere in the park? In the past, it night throughout the year. the world that lives in reedbeds. extreme specialist and the only lemur was assumed that other areas with a The most widespread are Between 2 500 and 5 000 indi- to eat the young, protein-rich shoots similar abundance of giant bamboo the three species of grey viduals are found in the threat- of giant bamboo, which contain levels would also support groups of greater LOOKING FORWARD bamboo lemur (sometimes ened marshes that surround Lac of cyanide that are lethal to other bamboo lemurs. Not so, according to a Association Mitsinjo, which means ‘looking called lesser bamboo lemurs) – Alaotra in central Madagascar, species.

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