Marotandrano Special Reserve, Madagascar
Three to four billion years in the making, the colossal variety of life on our planet includes somewhere between 10 to 100 million different kinds of organisms. But our species, the most sophisticated and widely distributed ever known on Earth, is threatening to kill off many of the others and to disrupt virtually every ecosystem. The island nation of Madagascar is of special concern.
This is the world’s 4th largest island and it’s famous for its astounding range of endemic species, found nowhere else at all. But it’s also famed for the rapid degradation of its habitats. Since humans arrived on this island, a number of extraordinary species have gone extinct, including a dwarf hippopotamus, a huge tortoise species, a gorilla-size lemur and a ten-foot-high ostrich-like bird. Today the threats to the forests that remain are not primarily commercial logging but the activities of millions of poor people trying to grow enough rice and to harvest enough firewood to feed their families. Despite the massive losses in forest cover, there is still much left to preserve in Madagascar, making this country a leading repository of life’s diversity and one of the most important priorities for international wildlife protection groups.
I visited several research sites in Madagascar’s three main ecosystems—including a week-long expedition to a previously unstudied tract of rain-forest where scientists are researching living and extinct wildlife. I met Steve Goodman, an expatriate American who has developed a standardized technique for surveying unexplored plots for biodiversity; Patricia Wright, a famed lemur researcher; and Karen and Mark Freudenberger, a team helping to institute more sustainable practices among rainforest inhabitants. I also met Malagasy musicians, story-tellers, children and community workers who all appear on my extensive website on Madagascar, its people, and its wildlife.
- Visit Fantastic Forests: The Balance Between Nature and People of Madagascar
- Listen to Noah’s Raft: Saving Madagascar’s Wildlife without the Ark, distributed by Radio Netherlands and broadcast on Living on Earth
Related Links
Marotandrano Special Reserve Madagascar
- Listen to New Leaf, Dan’s program about how farmers saved a critical railway line by introducing a new form of grass, broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Listen to an interview of Dan about Madagascar on the Here and Now
PHOTO GALLERY OF MADAGASCAR
- View Dan's Photographs of Madagascar