/(0851(:6 4HE.EWSLETTEROFTHE-ADAGASCAR3ECTION OFTHE)5#.33#0RIMATE3PECIALIST'ROUP 6OLUME LEMUR NEWS The Newsletter of the Madagascar Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Vol. 15, 2010 ISSN 1608-1439 Editors Christoph Schwitzer (Editor-in-chief) Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation, Bristol Zoo Gardens, UK; [email protected] Claudia Fichtel German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany; [email protected] Jörg U. Ganzhorn University of Hamburg, Germany; [email protected] Rodin M. Rasoloarison German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany; [email protected] Jonah Ratsimbazafy GERP, Antananarivo, Madagascar; [email protected] Anne D. Yoder Duke University Lemur Center, Durham, USA; [email protected] IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Chairman Russell A. Mittermeier, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA Deputy Chair Anthony B. Rylands, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA Coordinator – Section on Great Apes Liz Williamson, Stirling University, Stirling, Scotland, UK Regional Coordinators – Neotropics Mesoamerica – Liliana Cortés-Ortiz, Museum of Zoology & Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Andean Countries – Erwin Palacios, Conservation International Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia and Eckhard W. Heymann, Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Germany Brazil and the Guianas – M. Cecília M. Kierulff, Instituto para a Conservação dos Carnívoros Neotropicais – Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil, Fabiano Rodrigues de Melo, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Jataí, Goiás, Brazil, and Maurício Talebi, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, São Paulo, Brazil Regional Coordinators – Africa West Africa – W. Scott McGraw, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA Regional Coordinators – Madagascar Jörg U. Ganzhorn, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany, and Christoph Schwitzer, Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation, Bristol Zoo Gardens, Bristol, UK Regional Coordinators – Asia China – Long Yongcheng, The Nature Conservancy, China Southeast Asia – Jatna Supriatna, Conservation International Indonesia Program, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Christian Roos, Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Germany IndoBurma – Ben Rawson, Conservation International, Hanoi, Vietnam South Asia – Sally Walker, Zoo Outreach Organization, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, and Sanjay Molur, Wildlife Information Liaison Development, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Editorial assistants Nicola Davies, Rose Marie Randrianarison Layout Heike Klensang, Anna Francis Front cover: The Endangered golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) at the edge of an area devastated by gold mining activities in the Daraina region of north-eastern Madagascar. © Pete Oxford/naturepl.com Addresses for contributions Christoph Schwitzer Jonah Ratsimbazafy Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation GERP Bristol Zoo Gardens 34, Cité des Professeurs Clifton, Bristol BS8 3HA Antananarivo 101 United Kingdom Madagascar Fax: +44 (0)117 973 6814 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Lemur News online All 15 volumes are available online at www.primate-sg.org, www.aeecl.org and www.dpz.eu This volume of Lemur News was kindly supported by the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation (through Conservation International’s Primate Action Fund) and by WWF Madagascar. Printed by Goltze GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen, Germany Lemur News Vol. 15, 2010 Page 1 For a change,on a very positive note,I am thrilled to say that Alison Jolly was awarded the IPS Lifetime Achievement Editorial Award for her long-term commitment to lemur conserva- tion and environmental education in Madagascar (see News and Announcements).My two daughters (now 4 and 2 years I am writing this Editorial only a couple of days after another old) and I particularly enjoy reading Alison’s children’s book attempted (and failed) Coup d’Etat in Madagascar,in which a on Bitika,the mouse lemur,as,I am sure,do lots of children in faction of the army tried to topple the Transition Govern- Madagascar and elsewhere in the world. ment. For nearly two years now, since the start of the politi- It is encouraging to see that this volume of Lemur News is cal crisis in early 2009,the country has not seen a week with- again full of articles and short reports not only on lemur spe- out demonstrations, tensions between different political cies red-listed in one of the Threatened categories (VU, EN parties and attempts from international mediators to get or CR),but also on Data Deficient nocturnal species such as power-sharing agreements signed by all sides. Most donors, Mirza zaza,Lepilemur leucopus and the recently rediscovered governments and multinational organisations alike, have Cheirogaleus sibreei (see the articles by Rode et al., Fish, and frozen all non-humanitarian aid for Madagascar,which has led Blanco, respectively). As Johanna Rode and colleagues point to severe funding shortages in the environmental and con- out in their short report on Mirza zaza,Madagascar is in the servation sector. The political crisis has thus quickly turned unusual situation that 45 % of its primate species are red- into a full-blown environmental crisis, with large-scale illegal listed as Data Deficient,which is a far higher percentage than logging taking place mainly in eastern Madagascar (Marojejy, in any other primate habitat country and mainly derived Masoala, Makira), and unseen levels of lemur poaching all from the discovery of dozens of cryptic species in the genera across the island.Tokeep people aware of the seriousness of Lepilemur and Microcebus over the last couple of years. Many the situation we have decided to run another feature on of those species are only known from their type localities Madagascar’s environmental crisis in this issue of Lemur News, and may in fact be highly endangered. The more research is with an excellent update on illegal logging by Erik Patel as conducted and published on them, the easier it will become well as a case study of ongoing threats to lemurs and their to assign them a conservation status and target them with habitat in Sahamalaza National Park by Melanie Seiler and conservation measures. It will require a concerted effort of colleagues. the lemur research and conservation community over the The conservation situation of lemurs has also been a big con- next decade or so to to reduce the number of Data Deficient cern in several presentations given at the most recent 23rd species to a level comparable to other regions (or,ideally,to Congress of the International Primatological Society in zero). Kyoto, Japan. The talk that I remember best was by Lemur Another encouraging development is the frenzy of research News co-editor Jonah Ratsimbazafy,who reminded the audi- and conservation activities now under way for Prolemur simus ence in a very emotional way that scientists and conserva- at various locations both south and north of the Mangoro tionists working in Madagascar had a moral responsibility to River,reported by Dolch et al.as well as Rajaonson et al.in this respond to the "cries of the lemurs", as otherwise these volume. The greater bamboo lemur undoubtedly remains would remain unheard by the Malagasy and international one of the most endangered of Madagascar’s lemurs. How- community.In the biennial discussion session of "Primates in ever,with several additional populations having been discov- Peril", the list of the world’s top 25 most endangered pri- ered over the last two years, workshops having been con- mates, issued jointly by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist ducted that have led to a joint-up approach to this species’ Group and IPS,lemurs remained a very high priority and will conservation,and the ex situ population having been included again make up 20% of the 25 listed species in the next bien- as an integral part of conservation efforts, I now think that nium.Sadly,Madagascar thus retains its first place (along with we stand a real chance of saving Prolemur simus from extinc- Vietnam) as the country harbouring the highest number of tion. the top 25. It can only be hoped that the political classes of As Jörg Ganzhorn announced in his editorial to Lemur News Madagascar come to agree a way out of the current crisis 14, I have taken over the coordination of this newsletter sooner rather than later,as otherwise we run the very seri- from him after the 2009 volume, hence this is now the first ous risk,during the UN Decade of Biodiversity 2011-2020,of volume that I have helped produce (which is my humble ex- losing a substantial proportion of the endemic biodiversity of cuse for its slightly late publication). Jörg has been involved this amazing megadiversity country. with Lemur News since its inception in 1993,first as a member of its Editorial Board and from volume 3 (1998) as its Editor.I am thus pleased to say that we will not lose his experience and backing,as he has kindly agreed to remain part of the edi- torial team. Likewise, Jonah Ratsimbazafy and Rodin Raso- loarison,who have been the newsletter’s Malagasy coordina- tors since 2006, and Anne Yoder, who represents the Duke Lemur Center, will carry on as editorial team members, for which I am grateful.I am indebted to Heike Klensang,who has been doing the layout for Lemur News now for more than a decade and is still not tired of it,and to Anna Francis,who has designed the beautiful new logo and front cover. Very many thanks also to Stephen D. Nash for the wonderful lemur sil- houettes that we printed on the inside back cover. This volume of Lemur News was kindly supported by the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation through Conserva- Alison Jolly with Russ Mittermeier at the IPS Lifetime Achieve- tion International’s Primate Action Fund, and by the WWF ment Award 2010 ceremony in Kyoto. (Photo: R. Mittermeier) Madagascar and West Indian Ocean Programme Office. Page 2 Lemur News Vol. 15, 2010 I very much look forward to helping to take Lemur News into these precious hardwoods were cut in 2009 in protected the UN Decade of Biodiversity together with the editorial areas.