Wild Photos by NICk Garbutt

MadagascarThe Red Island is home to a host of outlandish creatures that could have been dreamed up by Lewis Carroll. nick Garbutt falls under its spell.

nick garbutt was an adviser on BBC2’s new Madagascar Eighty per cent of species series and has written several on Madagascar, including this handsome panther chameleon, The E XP RT books about the island’s wildlife. are endemic to the island.

43 as seen on tv  wild madagascar

Réserve Spéciale Lemur Island de l’Ankàrana This park is dominated by Wildlife jagged limestone outcrops or tsingy, with pockets of deciduous forest between the eroded peaks. Look for Masoala Peninsula Hotspots bats in the area’s many caves & Réserve de Nosy By DAVID ANDREW, specialist and up to 10 lemur species, including the crowned and Mangabe contributor to Lonely Planet’s northern sportive. The rainforest on this Madagascar guidebook. remote peninsula is home to the flamboyant helmet vanga and red-ruffed lemur. Nearby Nosy Parc National Mangabe island is the d’Ankarafantsika best place to spotlight an Coquerel’s sifakas (above right) aye-aye (above). sunbathe in the canopy of this dry deciduous forest; nocturnal mongooses and mouse lemurs and tree boas are easily seen on night walks. Take a boat trip on Parc National Lac Ravelobe to see endangered Madagascar fish-eagles. d’Andasibe-Mantadia Indris (left) are the stars of this large, hilly expanse of rainforest; its many other mammals include diademed sifakas and Goodman’s An indri executes mouse lemurs. The park one of its hallmark Pitta-like has a long bird list, as well ground-roller death-defying as Parson’s chameleons and leaps. The indri is giraffe-necked weevils. the only virtually Réserve Forestière tail-less lemur. de Kirindy Several lemurs occur in many times to the ‘Red Island’ (its soil is Kirindy, but this dry forest is Glance at a map of Africa and it would to bushbabies and pottos. With no higher synonymous with two hard- Parc National de Ranomafana be easy to dismiss the omelette-shaped often a distinctive terracotta colour) and it primates to compete with on Madagascar, to-see carnivores – the fosa island off the south-east coast as nothing has never failed to work its magic. they were able to diversify into more than (right) and narrow-striped Follow Ranomafana’s trail network to more than an insignificant chip off the old 100 species, encompassing a wonderful mongoose – both of which can explore rainforested hills dissected continental block. You might assume that its Land of lemurs variety of shapes, sizes and behaviour. by rushing streams. Keep your eyes be reliably encountered here. fauna and flora would be an impoverished Eighty per cent of Malagasy wildlife occurs At one extreme are the nocturnal mouse October is best for fosas. peeled for minuscule leaf chameleons (below left), plus Milne- version of the biological riches found on the nowhere else – a staggering statistic. But of lemurs – the world’s smallest primates. Edwards’ sifaka and mainland. Think again. the thousands of weird and wacky endemic A big silverback mountain gorilla can easily three species of Madagascar may be ‘merely’ 400km animals found here, it is the telegenic be 6,500 times heavier than the tiniest of bamboo lemur. from Africa at the Mozambique Channel’s lemurs that have become the stars. These them all, Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur – narrowest point, but when you’re there charismatic mammals are offshoots of the a ridiculously cute, goggle-eyed creature you feel light years away. It is not just primate family tree, most closely related different: it is very, very different. Where H e l m else might you find a primate that thinks e t v it’s a woodpecker, a gecko that screams like a Réserve Privée de Berenty n g a banshee and morphs into tree trunks, Shark Bay, a Producer’s notes The dolphins of Though not as scenic as some reserves, or a beetle with pretensions to being a Western Australia, have been Berenty – an island of natural vegetation giraffe? There are also chameleons the size delighting tourists for years, amid a sea of sisal plantations – is the of ants and rats the size of rabbits. Truly, LEMUR MAGIC but their tool-using skills have place to see ring-tailed lemurs (left) and Ifaty Mary Summerill is series producer of Madagascar. come to light only recently. the famous ‘dancing’ Verreaux’s sifakas. Madagascar is a topsy-turvy place. Hot, sandy and very dry, Like countless other visiting naturalists, ilming indris was a top priority for the crew, Ifaty has some of the last when I first set foot on the island 20 years and we were lucky to be able to spend a month remnants of spiny forest – a following an indri family in the Mitsinjo rainforest bizarre mix of octopus trees, ago I felt as if I had followed Alice into reserve. The group comprised a breeding pair and their baobabs and other drought- Wonderland. Since then I have returned F two offspring – a young male and his six-month-old adapted plants. Humpback sister. Their territorial wailing at first light was a highly whales (above) cruise effective alarm clock for the heavy sleepers among us. offshore in July–September. “The tiniest mouse lemur is It was a challenge to keep up with these enchanting animals as they moved through the steep, tangled forest, eaf-litter tree frog L a ridiculously cute, goggle- but – at the risk of sounding anthropomorphic – as we got to know them it seemed that they would wait for us Map illustration by Sam Symonds Map illustration eyed creature that tips the to catch up. Unfortunately, just as we had got the camera The indri: set up, they would gently move on again and wait a little very cuddly further on: endearing, but frustrating! The juveniles were and very loud. scales at just 25g.” very playful – at one point the male spent 15 minutes throwing himself on and off a log right in front of us. April 2010 February 2011 BBC Wildlife 45 as seen on tv dolphins as seen on tv  wild madagascar

Verreaux’s sifaka is the best-known of the eight A black and white sifaka species. These Captive ruffed lemur shows long-limbed lemurs are off the athleticism named for their shi-fak for which its family alarm calls. is renowned.

The aye-aye is a woodpecker in mammalian form.

Dawn breaks at Berenty, whose resident star is the ring-tailed lemur.

that tips the scales at just 25g. Collectively the (on average 12–15 strong), spends about How to watch wild Lemurs most abundant members of their family, the “The aye-aye is the epitome a quarter of its time on the ground and hyperactive mouse lemurs are a highlight of thrives in extremely arid habitats in the hot Many lemurs in national parks are used to night walks through wooded areas, leaping of zoological deviance: and dusty south. humans, so close-up views are likely. nimbly among the trees in search of berries, No discussion of lemurs is complete a jumble of quirky physical  W alk quietly, keeping blossom, beetles and other titbits. without a mention of the animal that noise to a minimum. Mouse lemur: P Oxford/NPL Mouse lemur: My favourite lemur, encapsulates all that is outrageous and  Listen out for rustling though, is the largest features and behaviour.” wonderful about Malagasy wildlife. Hardly foliage in the canopy and the living species – the anyone gets to see one in the wild (I have lemurs’ soft, grunting contact Habituated lemurs, indri. In looks it recalls still: they have the emotional power of had six sightings in two decades) and most calls. Remember: they will see a gangly, piebald whalesong. In the early morning, waves photographs of it are taken in zoos, which such as this golden- you long before you spot them. crowned sifaka, are teddy bear, and it can of this hackle-raising sound travel far and only adds to its allure. Enter the aye-aye.  S ome species, such as sifakas, ideal photographic perform prodigious wide through the indris’ rainforest home in The aye-aye is the epitome of zoological ring-tails and brown lemurs, are subjects. leaps of up to 10m the humid east of the island, as each family deviance: a jumble of quirky physical inquisitive – if you avoid pointing or between trees. But its announces ownership of its territory. features and even quirkier behaviour. Its making sudden movements, they will plangent, haunting cries Of course, the lemur tourists most want incisors grow continuously like a rodent’s, often allow stellar viewing opportunities. As their name are more extraordinary to see is an instantly recognisable species its gremlin hands have clawed digits and  N octurnal lemurs can be located by eyeshine synonymous with Madagascar itself. But a skeletal middle finger, its ears are massive, suggests, greater Mouse lemurs fill a similar bamboo lemurs reflected in torchlight. Don’t shine the beam ecological niche to dormice though the ring-tailed lemur is today a mobile and leathery like those of a bat, are Madagascar’s directly into their eyes, and use a low setting or bushbabies. This one is a global pin-up, it is rather atypical of its and its mammary glands are between its answer to the or cover your torch with red cellophane. brown mouse lemur. family. It lives in unusually large groups hind legs. When foraging, it acts as if it giant panda. David Andrew

February 2011 February 2011 47 Producer’s notes the rocks that rin ne of Madagascar’s most breathtakingg landscapes is the tsingy of the far north. Here, tucked among the razor-sharp Olimestone pinnacles, pockets of lush forest shelter an array of fascinating animals. W to film the area’s crowned lemurs,e werewhich desperate traverse this seemingly hostile terrain as they move between the patches of forest in search of food. It looked impossible, but somehow the lemurs made every crossing with ease, and as they bounded from rock to rock we noticed that their thickly padded feet made the limestone finials ring. Getting around was not so simple for us, however, especially as we had to lug a large camera mount called a jib (above) in order to produce swooping This avenue of Grandidier’s shots panning across the landscape. It was all a bit baobabs has become an iconic nail-biting – jibs are heavy and awkward to balance image. Baobabs may live for even on flat ground, and we had to be ultra-careful over 2,000 years, their trunks not to damage the fragile spindles of rock. If anyone reaching a girth of up to 30m. had slipped, they would have been lacerated. But we trod very cautiously, and finally captured the ‘reversible’ ankles like squirrels – to chase sequence we had come for. “No cats, dogs or civets made Small mammals, MS lemurs through the canopy or (more often) here a scrub hare, ambush them at night as they sleep. are a favourite Fosas have an eccentric mating system. it to the island after it broke caracal prey item. were the progeny of a Preoccupied with procreation, in October woodpecker and a squirrel (neither of which they abandon their shy, nocturnal habits, away from Africa. So a new occurs on Madagascar). It survives largely and females in oestrous climb favourite on insect finger food, tapping the wood trees (they return to the same ones every type of hunter emerged.” of rotting trees and listening for a hollow year) to advertise their availability. Over a Crew: Mary Summerill Crew: sound or the movement of juicy grubs. week or so a female attracts several males are equally memorable. I’m especially fond with scent-marking, all of which may mate of the flat- or leaf-tailed geckos, which have Curious carnivore with her. Faced with such stiff competition, taken the art of deception to sublime levels. At one time, before humans gatecrashed fosas have developed some interesting sexual These lizards mimic tree bark – but they the evolutionary party 2,000 years ago, adaptations. They possess the largest penis don’t just have the same mottled coloration. Madagascar was probably 80 per cent forest, relative to body size in the mammal world, They have gone much further, developing and those forests were full of lemurs – ideal and can maintain an erection for six hours. a skirt-like frill of skin around their entire prey for a top predator. But no cats, dogs or outline to help them merge imperceptibly civets reached the island after it drifted away Vanishing acts into a tree trunk or branch. Should this from Africa 165 million years ago. So the One-of-a-kind mammals like the fosa or fail to deter predators, the larger species coast was clear for a completely new type of aye-aye are undeniably exciting for the suddenly open their shocking red mouths, hunter to emerge and fill the gap. naturalist, but they represent just one while letting out a blood-curdling scream. The evolutionary end-product was element of Madagascar’s peculiar Another fascinating group of lizards the fosa (pronounced foo-sah). An fauna: its endemic reptiles, with cryptic coloration are the chameleons, arboreal hunter par excellence, amphibians, birds and insects which probably originated here. Today, it is sleek, lithe and more than 80 species – half of the world’s Mega moth: the male Vanga beaks come in all Some ants are bigger than the moon or comet moth shapes and sizes – the fantastically agile, pygmy stump-tailed chameleon, total – are restricted to the island. They climbing at speed range from leviathans to Lilliputians, and has a 20cm wingspan helmet vanga is the a Lilliputian creature found on and 15cm long ‘tails’. ‘toucan’ of the family. – helped by the north-east of the island. many sport horns and armoured ‘shields’

48 February 2011 February 2011 BBC Wildlife 49 as seen on tv wild madagascar Reef: FrédéricReef: Larrey Top 10 wildlife highlights

Madagascar has about 1,000km of coral reefs.

1 fosa One of the world’s oddest carnivores. We used to think the fosa was a primitive cat, but in fact it is a strange mongoose. Very little is known about it. Hands off! 2 Indri A leaf-tailed gecko The largest and loudest lemur – its treetop warns predators to choruses at daybreak are ear-splittingly loud. leave well alone…. 3 giraffe-necked weevil Often described as a beetle made by committee but perfectly engineered for the important job of rolling up leaves into nests. 4 Aye-aye An incredible animal in anyone’s book – but also incredibly difficult to see in the wild. Nowhere common, it is – ironically – the most widespread species of lemur on Madagascar. 5 Helmet Vanga What a beak! The huge, brilliant blue appendage of this rainforest species must rank among the most impressive in the bird world. 6 Parson’s Chameleon This monstrous lizard does a mean impression Madagascar’s apex of Tricerotops. Like other chameleons, its riotous predator, the fosa, hunts colours convey emotions and its reproductive lemurs for a living. It …and the same goes state as well as providing camouflage. targets both diurnal and for this toxic painted nocturnal species. mantella frog. 7 Flatid Leaf Bug In its nymph stage, this sap-sucking bug looks behind the head. The heavyweight champ, Charles Darwin never visited Madagascar, The Malagasy poison frogs (mantella) seem the island’s south-west corner could be like shredded cotton wool. Then it transforms into a bright pink adult resembling a petal. Parson’s chameleon, reaches a length of but had he done so I can’t help thinking that uncannily similar in both appearance and “Picture a glacé cherry with the set of a sci-fi movie: enormously 70cm – the massive, three-horned males its fantastic biodiversity would have helped behaviour to the poison-dart frogs of Central swollen tree trunks resemble elephant’s 8 Coral reefs have the swagger of mini Tricerotops. inspire his work on evolution. Take the and South America (Dendrobatidae) – an a mini Anglepoise lamp at feet and many-fingered, spine-encrusted Madagascar’s reefs are home to myriad colourful The same cannot be said of the pygmy vangas. This endemic family of birds displays exquisite example of convergent evolution. branches wave around like the tentacles fish and three species of turtle. stump-tailed chameleon. Rarely over 20mm a huge range of body size and beak type that, In fact, the Malagasy versions are not nearly one end – this beetle is like of a demented octopus. 9 Baobabs long, this tiny titan is among the smallest if anything, is even more pronounced than in as toxic as their New World counterparts, Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Six of the world’s eight species are unique to reptiles on Earth. One variety, Brookesia the famous Galápagos finches. though their bright warning coloration is nothing else on Earth.” the spiny forest’s animals and plants live Madagascar. They are also called bottle trees peyrierasi, is found on the idyllic island of The 15 species of vanga have evolved to every bit as striking. nowhere else. They include three species after their huge, moisture-storing trunks. Nosy Mangabe, off the north-east coast, where occupy niches filled in other parts of the crane-cum-robotic arm to neatly roll a leaf of baobab tree that rise like obelisks from 10 lesser it hunts ants in the leaf-litter and tries to avoid world by woodpeckers, wood-hoopoes, kit-built insects of the species’ preferred host tree into a the surrounding canopy. Towards the end hedgehog Tenrec spiky, hedgehog- shrikes, tits and nuthatches. They If I had to pick one creature that sums hollow tube. She then lays a single yellow of the rainy season (February–March), they Totally unrelated to hedgehogs, like tenrecs. provide an excellent example of adaptive up what makes the Red Island so special, egg, barely larger than a pinhead, inside produce large flowers that are pollinated by but behaves like one. Its radiation – the process by which a however, it would be the giraffe-necked the snug nest. various species of hawkmoth and some of closest relatives include small stock of ‘founder’ individuals weevil. Try to picture a glacé cherry with a And it’s not just the wildlife that is special the smaller nocturnal lemurs. elephants, hyraxes The giraffe-necked and the aardvark. weevil is surely one is isolated and then driven to diversify in mini Anglepoise lamp attached at one end on Madagascar – entire habitats have also Amazingly, some diurnal lemurs choose of the wackiest spectacular fashion. – this beetle is like nothing else on Earth. It developed in their own idiosyncratic way. to brave the ferocious daytime heat here, insects alive. Vangas are not the only group of animals appears to have been assembled on a whim On an island where oddities are which often exceeds 40°C in summer: No, it’s not on Madagascar to show remarkably close from a kit. But why the long, magnificently commonplace, one otherworldly landscape both ring-tails and Verreaux’s sifakas (the a hedgehog but a tenrec. parallels to unrelated species elsewhere. articulated neck? The female uses it like a in particular stands out. The spiny forest of celebrated ‘dancers’) have found a way to

February 2011 February 2011 51 Green and pleasant island? Madagascar has lost most of its native forest to slash- and-burn agriculture.

eke out an existence in this inhospitable land. The latter never drink, gaining “Madagascar’s wildlife has moisture only from the foliage they eat. given us a remarkable Sinclair Stammers/Science Photo Library Up in flames Spectacular as it is, the biodiversity we see insight into evolution, but its Landscape: Frédéric Larrey Frédéric Landscape: on Madagascar is but a fraction of its former glory. The arrival of humans on the island future hangs in the balance.” heralded the beginning of what can only be described as an environmental holocaust. people making charcoal or slashing and Hunting and deforestation have led to burning the forest by hand to grow crops waves of extinctions. Gone are at least 17 (a practice known locally as tavy). species of giant lemur, some the size of Yet there is a glaring paradox. Despite gorillas; gone, too, is the elephant bird, so much forest disappearing, there have Producer’s notes Aepyornis (see box, right), three species been no known extinctions of lemurs in the of pygmy hippo and a strange ancient recent past, even though many lemurs (and relative of the aardvark. other endemic species) depend on native THE MYSTERIOUS And these are just forest. And numerous discoveries offer a some of the extinct glimmer of hope. Scientific expeditions have ELEPHANT BIRD species we know located species – such as the Madagascar he fate of the elephant bird is one of about. Meanwhile, pochard – that had long been consigned to Madagascar’s great natural-history riddles. a high proportion the history books, while other species – such A flightless giant standing 4m tall, this was the T biggest bird ever to walk the Earth. It once thrived of the survivors are as the aye-aye and greater bamboo lemur – across the island, but vanished several centuries ago. endangered. have been found to be more common and No one is sure what caused it to die out, but it was Less than 8 per widespread than previously thought. probably ‘death by 1,000 cuts’ – a combination of egg cent of Madagascar’s Madagascar’s incomparable wildlife collection by humans (though there is no proof original forest remains. has given us a remarkable insight into the of this), habitat loss and climate change. Unlike in Latin America workings of evolution, but its future hangs We had heard that, amazingly, remains of elephant bird eggs (above) could still be found on a remote or South-East Asia, most in the balance. One can only hope that beach at Cap Sainte Marie, the island’s windswept of the habitat destruction is economic development and the growth southernmost point – and this was something we caused, not by big companies, of ecotourism will help to save its natural had to film. We expected to see just a few scattered but by the back-breaking riches for generations to come. fragments, but came across great circles of broken, endeavour of desperately poor creamy-white eggshells, each obviously the remains of a huge nest several metres wide. They may have Rampant deforestation madagascar will be broadcast lain on that beach for 1,000 years – the last echo of an threatens many Malagasy on BBC2 in three parts. astonishing animal. MS species, such as this Check Radio Times for details. leaf chameleon.

February 2011