Happenings
Isalo National Park
On July 26, 2016 we were lucky enough to visit Isalo National Park; the third most visited national park in Madagascar. The park gains it’s name from a plant that is endemic to the Mountain range within the park. There are also 2 other trees within the park that are endemic to the area, the tapia and mendelia tree. Aside from the flora of this park, there was also a variety of fauna. The park is home to 6 different species of lemur, including the ring tailed lemur, Verreaux’s sifaka and the red fronted lemur to name a few.
The park also offered a great deal of cultural insight to the Bara people. The Bara people are interesting in that they value their zebu more than almost anything else. Their entire wealth, success and manhood is based entirely on the amount of zebu they own. This is a unique lifestyle because their wealth is not necessarily reflected in their lifestyle or material goods, but is rather just put back into supporting the zebu that compose their wealth. This concept, in my opinion, is hard for many westerners to grasp. Another interesting cultural aspect of the Bara people is the way that they treat their dead. The Bara people have 2 tombs for each family- one is a temporary tomb and the other is permanent. The life of each individual is celebrated by their entire family and many other friends, then the body is placed into the temporary tomb to decompose. After sufficient time has passed, the family then removes the body from the temporary tomb and carries it to the permanent tomb to rest for eternity. This tradition is an amazing way to commemorate lost loved ones.
DCIM100GOPRO
DCIM100GOPRO
By Nick Kane
Beza Research
We arrived to Beza Mahafaly on July 28, 2016. As previously described in one of my blog posts, Beza is a special reserve that receives few tourist visitors per year; it is primarily a site for researchers. We have gotten to work first hand with 4 separate researchers since our arrival. Dr Richard Laller is researching demography, genetics and behavior of the sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) here at the reserve. Our professor, Doctor Wunderlich, is studying the locomotion and expense of energy of the sifaka. She does this by capturing the animals, which we also got to see first hand, collecting necessary data on them, placing an accelerometer “backpack” on them and releasing them back into the wild. The backpack is then removed from the animal after the necessary data is gathered. Elaine Guevera is studying the genetics of sifaka, by gathering their feces and running pcr on it. Chloe Chen-Kraus is studying the effects of human involvement on the behavior of sifaka in the reserve.
Conservation Genetics
Elaine Guevera is a graduate student at George Washington University and was able to spend a lot of time with our study abroad group while we were here in Madagascar. Elaine decided to give us a thought provoking lecture on conservation genetics. The main reasons she studies genetics is to help with species recognition of animals and to measure diversity within species and populations. The technology in the field of genetics is advancing extremely fast. One innovative, but not necessarily new, technology is the miniPCR machine. This machine enables researchers to run pcr while in the field. While this may not seem like a huge deal, it saves a great deal of time and energy, while also making the process much more efficient.
Another amazing piece of technology is CRISPR CAS 9-gene drive. This technology has two huge purposes. One of the main purposes is to introduce potentially adaptive genetic variation into endangered species. This could potentially lead to resurrecting extinct species, permitting that they have relatively close living species. Another huge impact that this technology could have is the eradication of evasive species by introducing detrimental genes into a lab population and then releasing said lab population into the wild. The lab population would then mate with the wild population and lead to the decline of the species. In mosquitos this was done by releasing sterile mosquitos to the wild, thus reducing the population of mosquitos.
By Nick Kane
Beza Mahafaly History
Doctor Richard Lawler gave a lecture on the history of Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Beza for short. The conservation efforts began in 1975 by the University of Tana, Yale, and Washington University. The conservation efforts gained the title of. Special reserve by the government of Madagascar in 1986. Beza is currently jointly run by the University of Tana, Madagascar National Parks and local stakeholders from around the reserve. The reserve is split up into 2 parcels: parcel 1 is 80 hectors and parcel 2 is 520 hectors. The fauna of these parcels is split into 3 distinct
The majority of the local population is Mahafaly, while the second largest group is Antandroy. The Mahafaly people have many fadi (taboo) regarding the forest, which help conserve all of the living things within it. They have a local legend regarding the protection and creation of the sifaka and ring tailed lemurs. The story begins with a man who had 2 wives. He gave his first wife a tortoise and did not give his second wife anything. The second wife became jealous, so she smacked the other wife in the head so hard that she became a ring tailed lemur. The second wife then retaliated, hit the other wife, and the other wife became a sifaka. So, the legend has it that the lemurs in Beza must be protected because they were previous wives.
By Nick Kane
Transect of Parcel 2
Transect forest parcel 2
Our last day in Beza, we walked a transect of the forest of Parcel 2 to take inventory, and the different states, of the trees. Parcel 2 really looks like it is from another planet. Some of the trees have long spindly limbs with spikes and leaves, while others have very thick trunks and short thin branches at the top. The forest was unlike any I’ve ever seen. The walk was fun as the terrain was leaf littered and rocky and the clouds gathering above provided shade, without which we would’ve just been completely burned by the sun after a few hours. To take inventory, we looked at the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit of the trees to determine their status and gave each category a number. The number ranged from 1-3 depending on the state of each category. Once we got back to camp, it started to rain, which was surprising and apparently also very rare here in the south during the dry season!
Conservation Genetics
We got a really great lecture from Elaine, the PhD student traveling with us to Beza, on conservation genetics. This is her area of expertise and it really showed! She is so passionate about her work and it is so entirely inspiring to see someone loving what they do. I really had no idea at first that genetics played such a vital role in conservation until she explained the reasoning behind these methods. We can use genetics to look at species recognition, phylogeny, and generic viability of individuals or a group. What I thought was most interesting was the bit about landscape genetics. Studying this can help look for strong potential candidates for connecting fragmented forest through corridors. The technology used to study conservation genetics is also really cool. There is CRISPR Cas 9, the miniPCR and the miniON. Elaine specifically uses miniPCRs as they are lightweight, durable, fully functional, cost efficient, and they have a small energy footprint so they are great for the field. Genetic studies in conservation could also potentially be used to resurrect extinct species and eradicate certain invasive species – pretty neat, but also pretty controversial.
Research on Impacts
Chloe Chen-kraus is a graduate student from Yale University. She is just starting a research thesis on the “Impacts of human activity on sifakas at Béza Mahafaly.” One of the biggest challenges of this project is defining and quantifying “Impacts.” Chloe does this by monitoring specific animal behavior, abundance of animals, life history of specific individuals, and health by parasite number and nutrition. She monitors animal abundance by using an innovative method called distance sampling. Every two months, fifteen 500m transects of land is surveyed. At 50m intervals a recorded sifika “lost” call is used to find groups. Using a complex math model the responses of the transects can be use to extrapolate the total lemurs in a given area. Chloe mesuares specific animal behavior\life history by conducting scan sampling of two sifaka groups in parcel of heavily protected land and two sifaka groups from a sustainable use zone that allows limited use by the local community. In the future two new groups will be monitored in a region of newly protected land that use to be heavily used by the community. That last bit of recorded data is the level of disturbance; cut trees, burned land, zebu, sheep, goats, livestock dung, and people. The level of disturbance was high for all zones.
July 26, 2016 – Scott & Mary “Any Bara home?”
Today we went to Isalo National Park with tour guide Tody. As we trotted along the cliffs, we sighted some interesting man-made stone walls. Tody explained that these were different kinds of tombs from Barra tribe. An easily accessible natural cave holds the recently deceased for three to five years as a temporary tomb. The turning of the bones ceremony is then held. First a party occurs during which, in Tody’s words, “20 people are sad and 80 people are happy.” After that, the bones are removed from the temporary tomb and wrapped in fresh silk. A few lucky indivduals then have some liquid courage, rum, before they scale a cliffside to the natural cave that is the permanent tomb. These tombs are higher than the temporry ones because of the belief that the higher the body is, the closer it is to god. There is also the added bonus of protection from grave robbers as many people are buried with valuables.
July 27, 2016 – Bezá
Tomorrow we’ll be arriving at Bezá Mahafaly Special Reserve. This is a protected area within the National Park system that contains 4600 hectares of spiny forest. Spiny forests are endemic to Madagascar and contain an odd variety of “Dr. Seuss like plants” as Dr. Lawler would put it. Bezá is very far off the beaten path (about an hour and a half down bumpy dirt and sand roads) and so it is one of the least visited parks in the system. It is for this reason that it is the perfect place to conduct research on the lemurs that live there. However, even without the presence of tourism, the forest is still impacted greatly by the communities surrounding the area predominantly through livestock grazing and tree cutting. The main research conducted there today, started by Alison Richard in 1986, is the sifaka project. The goal of this is to tag the entire population of lemurs that live in the forest so that morphometric, demographic, genetic, and behavioral data can be collected and analyzed. We’ll be spending our time exploring the forest, observing some lemurs, learning about the research protocols and sleeping in tents under the stars.
July 25, 2016 – Lily and Mary
Today as we continued heading south, we made a surprisingly fun stop at Parc Anja. Our tour guide, Jocelyn was very knowledgable about the park and all of the species in it. Their biggest, most impressive feature (it was hard to miss!) was the 3 sisters, which was 3 separate mountains that came together to form one huge formation. They had originally split from mainland Africa when the continents divided.
Shortly into the tour, we found one of the 15 groups of ringtail lemurs. Interestingly during the night they sleep in caves rather than trees because the eagles are so prevalent and will eat their babies. We even got a chance to climb up the mountains a bit and explore some of those caves, which also gave is out first look at some of the traditional mountainside tombs that we would see more of as we continued in our drive.
July 22, 2016 – Mitsinjo Frogs
Today we visited a Mitsinjo, a turly community based protected park focused on ensuring the longevity of the 400 endemic frog species in Madagascar. The park was esablished in 1999 but the frog breeding facility was not opened until 2011. The original goal of Mitsinjo was to train and educate the local community as guides so that they could pass along the importance of environmental conservation to their peers. The main driving force that motivated the park to begin the frog project was the discovery of chytrid fungus in Madagascar. Chytrid fungus contaminates frogs in tropical areas around the world, growing on thier skin and suffocating them in huge quantities. Most recently Central America had seen a substantial loss in species as a result of this fungus. While the fungus has not been found in the area directly surrounding the park, a town called Andasibe, the threat of a large scale loss of such a unique population of species is enough to get scholars all over the world nervous. Not to mention frogs are suffering the same threats as most other mammals around the world especially the illegal pet trade and deforestation. The primary goal of the project now is to establish frog husbandry protocols that will succesfully allow the various species to thrive. Currently the facility houses 800 individuals representing about a dozen species. As the research continues on proper feeding, housing, and temperature of the frogs the chances that Madagascar’s unique amphibious fauna will survive a wide scale loss is getting better.
Blog 8 – Beza
On Wednesday, July 27, we were in Tulear and Dr. Richard Lawler gave a lecture on Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve. It’s jointly run by the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar National Park (MNP), and local stakeholders around the reserve. 3 people were vital in the reserve’s establishment: Allison Richard, Bob Sussman, and Guy Ramantsoa. It began in 1975 with early funding from the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) to establish the preliminary boundaries. In 1986, the Malagasy government officially designated the area as Beza. 2 parcels of land were set aside. Parcel 1 is the main area and is 80 hectares. Parcel 2 is less explored and is 520 hectares. Both are protected areas, but there is still presence of human disturbance in parcel 2. The local people in Beza are mostly Mahafaly, and the local fady (taboo) helps protect the reserve and lemurs. There are 3 types of forest in the reserve: spiny, low canopy, and high canopy. There are 2 research projects in Beza: ringtail and sifaka, but the former has been put on hold due to lack of funding. There are 4 components to the reserve, each “managed” by a different group. The University of Tana: research. MNP: tourism. COSAP: community based management. Kasti: local conservation. There’s a monitoring team that collects data every month on the sifakas – group composition, transfers between groups, disappearances, births, deaths, ETC. The research team also keeps an eye out for any unmarked yearlings, unmarked immigrant adults, and any related animals based on the team’s research questions. (Also, unmentioned in the lecture, Lemur catta just hang out around the campsite in the early afternoon. Here’s a pic of one!)
Blog 7 (I think??) – Isalo
On Tuesday, July 26, we visited the Madagascar National Park in Isalo. We hiked for 7ish hours through dry forest, desert, and canyons. Our tour guide, Tuti, was amazing. He spoke English very well and was extremely knowledgeable on the park. Lemur catta, red fronted brown lemurs and sifakas can be found in the park – we saw a small group of ring tails a couple hours into the hike. They were near the panoramic viewing spot, climbing one side of a canyon rather adeptly. The park was established in 1962, 2 years after Malagasy independence. It’s the 3rd biggest park in Madagascar and inhabited by the Bara people. They hold Zebu in high regard – it’s how they determine wealth. One family can have anywhere from 20-3000 zebu. Because of this (and agriculture), the people need large plots of land. The Bara burn the land for 3 reasons: food for zebu, for planting rice, and to cover their tracks when stealing zebu. Part of Bara tradition is a man stealing a zebu from a far away village to prove he is a man. Bara are polygamous and the number of zebu a man steals equals the number of wives he can have. The Bara have a saying that describes just how much value they put in their zebu: “No zebu, no life.” The Bara also have 4 traditions: turning of bones (famadihana), circumcision, exorcism, and weddings. When the Bara bury their dead, they put them in coffins and those into temporary tombs, which are easy to reach. After 5-7 years, there is the turning of bones; they move the bones (which are all that remains) into a smaller coffin and into a permanent tomb, which is very difficult to reach, often high up in the side of a mountain, always in natural caves. Throughout the hike, I saw evidence of just how connected the Bara are to the park. (Look closely for the tomb in the above pic!!) (Hint: it’s the pile of rocks. Which rocks? That’s for me to know and you to figure out!)
Birding in Beza by Julia
On the morning of the 30th, we walked a birding transect with Effitirea, the bird expert at Beza Mahafaly. The transect was 1000 meters long. There are two methods used, one for quantifying species and another for individuals. The first is to stop every 100 m for 5 minutes and note species name of all individuals heard, including any repeats. The second occurs while walking the 100 m, and involves making a list of 10 species heard with no repetition. Once the list is finished, a new one is started. This process continues throughout the entire transect. I thought it was really interesting to see how the data are collected and to learn the Malagasy names of the local birds. I even felt that I could recognize a few of the calls by the end!
Béza Research
There is two general activities that occur at Béza Mahafaly when studying the sifakas. The first is processing where the animals are collard and a variety of measurements are taken. The collar with tags help the researcher Id the animals in the second major activity, the census. A census involves a researcher going into parcel 1, a protected area with a variety of trails, and looking for a group of lemurs. The census tries to record number of individuals, gender, unmarked individuals, what tagged individuals there is, and where the group is located. Each group is given a shorthand name like Diddy.
One of the animals that we followed around was individual 833. This male carried an accelerometer on his back to record the gravity forces exhibited while leaping through the trees.
Peeps in Béza – Lily and Scott
There are several different projects going on in Béza Mahafaly. Dr. Roshna Wunderlich studies the biomechanics and locomotion of Propithecus verreauxi, as well as their energy consumption using accelerants. Dr. Richard Lawler is focusing on demographics, genetics, and behavior. He monitors the 30 year sifaka project. Elaine Guevara, a graduate student from George Washington University, is looking at genetics using PCR and samples from hair, tissue, and fecal matter. Chloe Chen-Kraus, a Yale University grad student, is studying the effects of human interaction on sifakas around the buffer regions of the forest. Currently, there is no Lemur catta project due to lack of funding.
A Yellow Van in Madagascar
Madagascar is frankly a big place. There has to be some travel time as we move from rain forest in the east to the spiny deserts in the south. Some days we are all, 11-13 individuals, crammed into a van like sardines. We are jostled about as we try to drive over the sometimes nonexistent roads. There is literally pot holes the size of zebu’s (think cow). However, these travel days are some the best days to see the country. We can witness as peoples houses change from clay brick, to raffia leaf roof shacks and sometimes dry mud buildings. We get to see the markets of the small towns with people trying to sell everything between fruits to cloths pinched from donations. Agriculture practices change with some people planting rice in straight rows while others scatter shot their patties. Even the landscape changes as the van moves between rain forest, city, dry grassland, high mountains looming in the distance. You get to see a lot outside a van window during a ten hour ride, that is if your not passed out from exhaustion.
Community Based Conservation at Anja Park
Today, July 25th, we went to Anja Park; it is a locally run park and an excellent example of community based conservation. The park was established 15 years ago by the 3,000 people who live in the community. The park employs 44 men and women in the community as tour guides. Aside from providing jobs, they also give 20% of their profits back to the community that supports it (a prime example of community based conservation). The other 80% of the profits stay within the park itself. The income is from 2 main things that the park provides. Firstly, the park has a pond that they stock with royal carp. These carp sell for 6,000 Ariary a kilo at the market. These fish are harvested from August-September, so they are a seasonal income but make a huge difference for the community. Secondly, the ticket sales’ revenue contributes a great deal to these profits and lasts year round. Another awesome program that this park offers is their education program. They help support 4 schools and a hospital within the community, with the previously described proceeds.
The park covers 66 hectors of land and contains 15 groups of lemur catta, also known as ring tailed lemurs. During our visit to the park we got to see many of these ring tailed lemurs. I was surprised at how comfortable they were around humans, but I guess that’s the result of being exposed to tourists so often. The most interesting fact, in my opinion, that the tour guide offered was that these lemurs consume a lot of toxic berries. In order to neutralize these toxins they eat a certain type of grass, which helps keep them alive and gives them the nutrients they need to survive. We also got to go visit the caves that the lemurs reside in at night in order to avoid the predatory nocturnal birds that fly over their territory. Compared to other lemur catta found in Beza, the ring tailed lemurs that live in Anja appear to be much fluffier and healthier. This is most likely due to the abundance of food in their home, thanks to the community based conservation provided by the park.
By Nick Kane
Melissa & Julia: Organic Palm Oil
On our way to Andasibe, we stopped at an organic palm oil plantation. It was remarkable in that it used not only all parts of the palm tree, but it also used sustainable methods of controlling insects and the growth of invasive plants. Besides using the fruit and nut to make the oil, this plantation also used the shells and the husks to fuel the factory and they fed the waste byproduct to pigs that raise to sell or eat.
We took a tour of the plantation itself and saw different species of palm and other spice plants that they grew including vanilla and turmeric. We then went into the factory and were shown how the oil is extracted and it takes about thirty minutes for an entire kilo of palm oil.
Melissa & Julia: Forestry in Tampolo
On the 20th, we went to Tampolo forest, host to some of the rare remaining littoral forest. Due to deforestation, there is only about 10% of this type of forest left, but it is host to approximately 14% of Madagascar’s endemic species of flora. We learned about many of these species, including how illegal logging is affecting the populations of ebony. After this, we practiced surveying the forest. We marked off a large, medium, and small area and looked at trees with a diameter over 10 cm, a diameter between 5 and 10 cm, and sapling species, respectively. Usually, a surveyor would do twice the amount we did. Although we only did half of a regular survey, it was a lot of work! Afterwards, we analyzed the data we collected. Many of the large trees we saw were the same species, but the saplings were for the most part a different one. This indicates that there is new growth.
Melissa & Julia: Agroforestry in Ivoloina
At Park Ivoloina, we got to learn about agroforestry, which is a process that involves planting trees to give shade to farmers and the plants that grow underneath them. It was really cool to see how sustainable a place and its people could be. The trees would be planted so that they could provide shade to plants that grow underneath them. When the plants beneath the trees needed sunlight, the trees would be cut down and used for compost or food for the animals. We also got to plant rice, which is a lot more work than it seems. The rice paddies are just mud and water and we took the rice seedlings and lightly buried them in the mud using a rope as a guide for straight lines.
One tree that was interesting was the makoba tree. It produces a red fruit that looks like an apple and tastes like a mix between a peach and an apple. We got to try a few when we were on our walk and they were sweet and delicious!
July 20, 2016
Today we went to the protected area Tampolo, a littoral forest. Only 10% of the forests left in Madagascar are of this type. What is so unique about it is that the edge of the forest backs all the way up to the beach (on the Indian Ocean) and also includes swampy areas that house a variety of different species throughout. Tampolo is home to 4 of the 5 endemic families of trees in Madagascar. A couple Malagasy forest experts even a couple armed guards guided us through the forest. Tampolo has been struggling to protect its borders in recent weeks from theft and illegal logging, but our group was safe.
During our hike, we learned about some of the cool species growing in the forest (latex trees, ebony, critically threatened palm) we took inventory on a plot. We essentially measured out a 10×50 meter box and walked through in a line first identifying the larger trees that had a diameter of 10cm or more. We then cut the box in half and then in half again, and counted the medium sized trees then the small trees respectively. Turns out forestry is tedious and physically challenging (when there are huge obstacle in your plot). We analyzed diversity, density and strata structure of our trees.
Malagasy Cuisine
The food in Madagascar has been much different than what we’ve had back in the ‘States. In Tana there were many French restaurants, which is where we mostly dined. The first night I ate a zebu steak’ which tasted much better than the beef back home, even without steak sauce. The restaurant also provided bread with 4 different dipping sauces: once was a sweet pickled cabbage, another was a peanut sauce, another was a pepper sauce called Sakai (which is served with everything in Madagascar_, and the last was type of verde-like sauce. The breakfast in Tana consisted of baguette with butter and jam, eggs, (omelet or over easy), juice and coffee-tea-hot chocolate. When we got to Ivoloina the breakfast consisted of bread with butter and jam, coffee, and tea. For lunch we typically had rice and beef served with sauce and/or ans. For dinner we typically had either shrimp with vegetables or fish with sauce and rice. Both lunch and dinner were finished with a plate of fruit. The fruit varied from bananas, Asian lychee, and papaya. One of the days in Ivoloina we were also served a snack consisting of bread fruit served 2 ways: friend with a savory batter and one that was not fried. I also placed sugar on the fruit to make it a little sweeter; it had the consistency of sweet potato and tasted somewhat like funnel cake. Most lunches and dinners in Madagascar have also included ranamofan which is water that has been boiled with the burnt rice; it is sometimes clear and other times it is much darker. When it is clear it has little taste but when it’s dark it tastes similar to non-sweet burnt marshmallows.
By Nick Kane
Primate Systematics
Elaine Guevara gave a lecture on primate systematic. We learned that the 7 things that define primates are: the presence of opposable thumbs and feet, fully closed boney eye socket, nails, grasping hands, relatively large brains, well defined facial muscle, and a petrosal bulla It is believed that primates closest relatives are the flying lemur, which actually is not a lemur, and the tree shrew. The emergence of primates is believed to have occurred ~80ma ago. Amongst the primates, lemurs are believed to be some of the most primitive to still exist, along with lorises. These two species compose the strepsirrhine group. There are 6 interesting traits that make a lemur a lemur: retention of basal mammalian traits (i.e. multiple nipples), lemur synapomorphies (tooth comb), seasonal breeding, female dominance, scent marking and incredible diversity. There are many different species of lemur including the most distantly related Aye-Aye, the bamboo lemur, the Indri, etc. The biggest question about lemurs is how they got to the island Madagascar. The top theory is that they floated over from mainland Africa on some type of raft-like structure.
By Nick Kane
Recent Extinctions in Madagascar
The second lecture we heard today was about the recent extinctions that have occurred within Madagascar. The interesting thing about most of the extinctions that have occurred is that they mostly affect animals that are considered to be “giant” species, such as elephant birds, hippos, and the Archaeoindros which was a gorilla sized lemur. There are currently considered to be 17 extinct or “subfossil” giant lemurs. A subfossil is a fossil that is so new, they haven’t been fully fossilized. These help scientists figure out a lot about the animal’s pasts. The main question regarding these extinctions is what caused them? Some of the theories include fire, climate change and synergy. Synergy is considered to be the leading theory currently. This theory incorporates both human and natural causes.
By Nick Kane
Yet another post (title suggested by Mary) – Lily and Mary
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
On Friday, July 22, we went to Parc Mitsinjo in Andasibe. Our guide was Jeanne Claude, and he took us through the rainforest in the morning. Almost immediately, he found a chameleon, the horned chameleon (see above pic!). The male has the horn. One of the Park’s biggest projects is the tree nursery. It ‘s approximately 1 hectare in area. In 2005, they started it and they grow native species and connect the pieces of the park and the forest. There are 3 types of trees: grow fast, grow slow, and grow very slow. They mix the three categories together. If an invasive species pops up, it’s quickly removed and replaced with a native species. We saw the Calumma nasutum, the smallest of the calumma genus. It means big nose, little chameleon. Jeanne also showed us a parasitic plant growing through/on a host plant. It takes the sugar and nutrients from the host. The park has 50 different species of orchids. We also saw some indri in the forest. One came very close and another guide fed them fresh tree sprouts (Mary’s words, not mine). Indri can’t cohabitate with other groups of indri, but they can with other lemur species. This is because the other species eat other types of food that the indri do not; no competition for food. Another fun fact about the indri: only the males fight, using their teeth. The females stay higher up in the trees and call loudly during the fight.
Another post
HELP Madagascar is an NGO and social work organization located in Tamotave and run by a couple – Kim and Colin Radford. They provide several different services not only in education, but also social work. They allow victims of rape to stay for 48 hours and either get guardianship or help the victim find a group home. ASAMA is a program that helps educate illiterate adolescents 12 and older. In order to help the kids, Kim and Colin have to teach them in Malagsy, but the local school system is in French. So, the kids would excel in ASAMA, but then in 6th grade, they would be lost. CEPE is an exam at the end of primary school (5th grade). Recently, HELP Madagascar has reduced the number of kids they’re helping, focusing instead on following up with their “graduates” and helping them get out of poverty and break the bonds of generational poverty. They sponsor graduates to higher learning (high school and even university); those that went through the program or kids who are on track but have no money. In all, they’re helping 500 kids and 24 are in university, which is a big deal. HELP Madagascar gets involved with medical cases – just by offering funding. Their biggest struggle right now is the corruption in the country. The instructors who give the exams will accept bribes and switch the tests of kids. Though they’ve remained a small organization, they make huge differences and are involved with many other associations. (The postcard picture was taken by Colin himself! It’s a Foudia madagascariensis, but unfortunately we never saw one in person)
Blog – Mary and Lily
On our drive south towards Tana today, we stopped at an organic palm oil plantation. Our tour guide, Joelle, first led us through the actual plantation and explained the various plants they utilize to be fully organic. Along with growing oil palm trees, they plant a vine called poranea to kill invasive plant species that would otherwise require chemicals to destroy. The plantation also uses some of the agroforestry techniques we learned about like using a gliresidia tree to both support and shade vanilla vines. We saw a woman stripping raffia leaves, getting to the strong fiber underneath (see pic!) After Joelle let us try some fresh coconut milk, we put on hard hats and vests and he led us into the palm oil factory. Every hour, 2 kilos of palm oil is made by machines that press the fruit and squeezes the oil out. The oil is sent to Switzerland, from where it is then distributed. There’s a control center where a head chemist checks the oil to ensure its quality. The factory overall is self-sustaining, meaning that banches are used to fuel the machines and pigs eat the waste.
Time to Survey
At Parc Ivoloina the group learned two field survey methods, sample scanning and focal point. Sample scanning involves a stop watch and a population of animals. Every twenty seconds each posture and locomotion type is recorded. This is repeated for a set amount of time, say ten minutes. Focal Point study involves following a single animal for a set amount of time and recording every locomotion change or position change. One of the short hand notes is OOS or out of sight. One of the lemurs surveyed was the red belly lemur.
Eulemur rubiventer, red belly lemur, is a medium sized lemur weighing 2kg. The fur is a dark chestnut brown and they have black tails. Males have pale tear drop patterns around the eyes. Interesting fact, after infants are 5 weeks old the father will carry the child until the child is a 100 days old.
Three Square Fields a Day
At Tampolo, a littoral forest/swamp that runs straight into the sea, the group learned about a basic forestry skill, the plant inventory. A plant inventory is a survey of the plants in an area. Typical plant inventories are done in three concentric squares. The largest square survey tracks the largest tree’s, the medium square the medium trees, and the smallest looks for new/young trees. The median of the squares is marked out by tall poles. When the inventory is commencing several people fan out on one side of the square and move forward shouting out the name of any plant they see that meets the requires size to a scribe on the side of the plot Usually they also note tree trunk length, diameter of tree, and tree canopy height. After data collection, this inventory is useful in describing the biodiversity of the forest and is also useful in comparison studies.
Day 2 – Mary and Lily
We spent all of the morning and a good part of the afternoon at the University of Tana listening to lectures by Dr. Joelisoa Ratsirarson (the Vice President of the University) and Dr. Bill Jungers. Dr. Ratsirarson lectured predominantly on Protected Areas in Madagascar. He introduced Madagascar as a country and the overall demographics and distinguished variations in environments found throughout the country. One thing that he kept returning to though was the instability within the governing bodies and how this has led to many difficulties in establishing legislation. There are two types of protected areas found in Madagascar run by two separate organizations: The National Park Agency of Madagascar and the New Protected Areas. Until 2003, any protected areas that existed were run solely by the National Park Agency. In 2003 however, an act called Durban Vision was passed with the goal of protecting 10% of Madagascar’s land. This act introduced the New Protected Areas organization. Despite an ambitious timeline of completing the vision in only a couple years, it took until 2015, with the help of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and their strict categorizing system of land, that the government was finally able to recognize and protect their goal of 6 million hectares of land. While the country still struggles with regulation and enforcement, hopefully this accomplishment will further the advancement of environmental protection in the future.
Dr. Jungers spoke about the evolution and recent extinction of “giant” lemurs on Madagascar. He showed us a possible timeline for when the mammals (lemurs, tenrecs, rodents, and carnivores) came to Madagascar. Because there’s no fossil records at all between the cretaceous and Pleistocene eras, it’s very difficult to determine the exact times. Madagascar can support such various species – both fauna and flora – because of the different climate zones. Generally, the west and south are dry and the east and north are wet. The central highlands are mostly grasslands. The eastern coast is wet and has the least ideal conditions for preserving fossils. Sub fossils are those that are not yet fossilized, but still
Day 1 – first impressions – Mary and Lily
Being in a completely new place, we were hit with a couple first impressions, hard. Right after stepping out of the airport, Malagasy locals were clamoring to help push our luggage. They only left a narrow passage way for us to get through. As the locals teamed up to stack our bags on top of our bus, more people immediately began to linger around us. One bold little boy (probably no older than 7) walked right into the middle of our circle with one hand out clearly asking for money. It was then that we realized the true extent of poverty in Madagascar. When we arrived at the hotel, a few men were very eager to help us park on the side of the road. They guided the driver and expected a few ariary as tip. Another first impression was the driving. Our driver honked constantly for the duration of our trip. The reason was to let people know we were nearby, a warning. Also, there were no clear street lines on the roads or designated crosswalk; so basically it was a free for all. People walked both on the skinny sidewalks and the edges of the road, darting across occasionally without warning in front of cars. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any accidents. There were no stoplights, but at large intersections, the police directed traffic. Overall, I think we’ll just have to leave the driving to Rija (our driver) and as for the immense amount of people on the streets, we’ll just have to figure out how be smart and curteous at the same time.
Agriculture day – Lily – blog 3. June 16, 2016
Today was agriculture day and we learned mostly about rice culture. Since this class is all about being hands on, we delved into the mud pits of tilled earth (read: doom), and actually put the knowledge we learned minutes before, to use. Rather than completely ruing my one pair of shoes, I went barefoot. The mud came up to just below my knee, thick and gooey. I had to really work to move forward – balance just right so that I didn’t fall over when I took a step. There was an awesome (sarcasm) suction-y sound when I pried my foot out and an equally awesome (just as sarcastic) glomp-y sound when I put it back into the mud. There was a knotted rope that ran the width of the field and at each knot, we planted a little rice seedling. First, we smoothed the mud with our hands, then placed the seed just under the mud. Rinse and repeat. The seeds we used had about 2 leaves, and when they grow, they’ll have 4-5 leaves. There are 4 factors when growing rice fields successfully: the age of the seed, compost (which is put into the water), water, and controlling the weeds.
Kate – days 1 and 2
Madagascar blog Day 1- After 30 hours of traveling and no sleep it’s safe to say I’m tired and delirious. Yet, because I’m so tired it almost makes me appreciate the beauty of Antananarivo more. I ate scallops with a side of noodles.  Day 2- Today we went to the university in Madagascar and learned about the evolution and extinction of endemic animals in madagascar. I thought it was most interesting to learn about the giant lemurs who once roamed as recent as 400 years ago. They could potentially grow to the size of a large make gorilla. For our reading, we read about potential causes for extinction and while it seems likely human impact was the cause, evidence does suggest it’s unlikely and it happened because of synergy.
Nick Kane – Blog post #4
Elaine Guevara gave a lecture on primate systematics. We learned that the 7 things that define primates are: the presence of opposable thumbs and feet, fully closed boney eye socket, nails, grasping hands, relatively large brains, well defined facial muscle, and a petrosal bulla. It is believed that primates closest relatives are the flying lemur, which actually isn’t a lemur, and the tree shrew. The emergence of primates is believed to have occurred ~80ma ago. Amongst the primates, lemurs are believed to be some of the most primitive to still exist, along with lorises. These two species compose the strepsirrhine group. There are 6 interesting traits that make a lemur a lemur: retention of basal mammalian traits (multiple nipples), lemur synapomorphies (tooth comb), seasonal breeding, female dominance, scent marking and incredible diversity. There are many different species of lemur including the most distantly related Aye-Aye, the bamboo lemur, Indri, etc. The biggest question about lemurs is how the got to the island of Madagascar. The top theory is that they floated over from mainland Africa on some type of raft-like structure.
Mary – July 16, 2016
For our second day in the rainforest at Parc Ivoluina, we got a tour and lesson on Agro forestry. We walked all through the park and then out to a close by village. Not only did we get to see all different sorts of fruits and spices (including papaya, pepper, pineapple, banana, coffee, olive, cloves, corossol, cassava, and a whole lot more), we also learned about the strategies being implemented to grow them most efficiently. The most common type of agro forestry we saw was the use of fruit trees to provide shade for lower growing crops that required less sun. In this method there is no loss of growing area and all the plants are able to thrive in the conditions they require. Interestingly, because of Madagascar’s rich variations in climates and soil types, almost every fruit in the world is able to grow successfully somewhere on the island. Just in time for us to make it to the village, a huge rainstorm hit and though it was not long lived, I think about 5 inches of rain came down in 5 minutes. We decided that was our cue to head back for lunch. After lunch we did some hands on learning which you can read all about Lily’s post.
Sticky Time
We get to try our hand at cinnamon bark peeling
Cinnamon is a non native species introduced into Madagascar. However, the plant grows readily here and many harvest it for the spice. The spice we know of typically comes from a layer of wood just beneath outer bark. This is extracted by shaving the outer bark and then by the use of a small bent metal rod the cinnamon is removed. The spice dries for half an hour and then is rolled into the stick shape. This is very hard to do well.
Christian teaches us how to make cinnamon rolls
AgroForestry July 18, 2016 – Mary
For our second day in the rainforest at Parc Ivoloina, we got a tour and lesson on Agro forestry. We walked all through the park and then out to a close by village. Not only did we get to see all different sorts of fruits and spices (including papaya, pepper, pineapple, banana, coffee, olive, cloves, corossol, cassava, and a whole lot more), we also learned about the strategies being implemented to grow them most efficiently. The most common type of agro forestry we saw was the use of fruit trees to provide shade for lower growing crops that required less sun. In this method there is no loss of growing area and all the plants are able to thrive in the conditions they require. Interestingly, because of Madagascar’s rich variations in climates and soil types, almost every fruit in the world is able to grow successfully somewhere on the island. Just in time for us to make it to the village, a huge rainstorm hit and though it was not long lived, I think about 5 inches of rain came down in 5 minutes. We decided that was our cue to head back for lunch. After lunch we did some hands on learning which you can read all about Lily’s post.
Day 1 lectures – Nick
Madagascar is home to 5% of the world’s species, including over 100 species of lemurs. Although, the country is impoverished which leads to the environment being exploited as the only means to make a living/produce food. This exploitation has led to the destruction of many unique ecosystems which endangers many animals since they have limited habitats. The people of Madagascar, and from around the world, are trying to help conserve these habitats by creating protected areas. Protected areas are defined as an area of land or sea dedicated to protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and cultural resources and managed through legal and other effective means. These protected areas are usually placed around threatened species habitats, unique ecosystems and places with scientific or cultural value. They are categorized with a number ranging from 1-6; these numbers represent the type of protected area, whether it be a nature reserve (I) or an area used for natural resources (VI). The higher the number, the less natural the environment that’s being protected. One of the main issues with these areas is that they must be approved by both houses of Malagasy Parliament, which is problematic due to the political instability of the country. Despite these challenges though the government has managed to protect almost 5 times as much land since 2013, with over 10% of the country being protected.
The second lecture we heard today was about the recent extinctions that have occurred within Madagascar. The interesting thing about most of the extinctions that have occurred is that they mostly effect animals that are considered to be “giant” species, such as elephant birds, hippos, and the Archaeoindros which was a gorilla sized lemur. There are currently considered to be 17 extinct or “subfossil” giant lemurs. A subfossil is a fossil that are so new, they haven’t been fully fossilized. These help scientists figure out a lot about the animals pasts. The main question regarding these extinctions is what caused them? Some of the theories include fire, climate change and synergy. Although, synergy is considered to be the leading theory currently. This theory incorporates both human and natural causes.
First impressions – Nick
There were 2 main things that surprised me the most the first day we arrived to Madagascar. Firstly, I was surprised at how vast the city was. While the buildings aren’t as tall as in some other cities that I’ve seen, Antananarivo seems to extend forever. Secondly, I was surprised to see that in there were rice fields growing in the middle of the city.
The first day – Scott
On July 13th the group went to the University of Antanarivo for several lectures from prominent individuals. The first lecture was from Joelisoa Ratirarson, PH.D about the protected area systems of Madagascar. Considering that the Madagascar is a biological hotspot there is some interest in conserving the natural ecosystems that are left. Some notable examples include the largest moth, Comet Moth, and an unique example of butterfly called the Dead Wing Butterfly, looks like a dead leaf. The Durban Vision in 2003 promised 6 million Hectares in protected areas but this goal was not reached, or protected by law, until 2015. The second lecture was by Willian Jungers and was called “The Evolution and Recent Extinction of “Giant Lemurs” on Madagascar.” There was many different types of extinct lemurs such as the “Koala Lemurs” Megaladapis, “Monkey Lemurs” Archaeo sp. And “Sloth Lemurs” sp. Babakotia sp. Palaeopropithicus sp. Archaeoindris sp. William Juggers suggest that a combination of climate changes and negative human interaction caused the extinction of these species based on the credible facts from carbon dating the “sub” fossils that were found and the relative times that people first arrived on the island.
The university has many cool specimens stored like the Latimeria chalumnae (above) and jars full of snakes (below). Fun fact, there is no poisonous land snake in Madagascar.
Melissa & Julia: First Impressions
The poverty was striking. As we stepped out of the airport, we were approached by a heartbreakingly cute young boy asking for money who was accompanied by his mother carrying two more babies. On the way to the capital, Antananarivo, the land was very flat, plain, and heavily cultivated for rice paddies and brick baking. Once we got into the city, which was much more hilly, the views were spectacular!
Melissa & Julia: The Second Day
Subfossils/Extinction of Giant Species
Today, Dr. Jungers taught us about the extinction of multiple species, including giant species of lemurs. The most interesting one to us was the Koala Lemur (Megaladapis), which, according to subfossil records, is theorized to be arboreal, terrestrial, and aquatic. Its foot is as long as its thigh bone! Although there are many theories as to what happened to these species, the most prominent ones are that they disappeared due to climate change and synergy, which is a theory including human impact and other causes. Despite the climate change theory’s longterm validity, a paper has recently been published that suggests it was not a factor in the extinction of the giant animal species.
The Animal Biology & Botany Department Tours
While at the University, we were given brief tours of the botany and animal biology departments. The gardens here were beautiful; with the high number of endemic species in Madagascar, we were surprised to see many we recognized as they had relatives that are found in the United States. The agave plant and the “crocodile tree” were some of our favorites. Although not native to country, the agave plant looked like giant pieces of green and yellow pulled taffy. This plant makes tequila and sweet syrup, so the plant is as useful as it is aesthetically pleasing. As you can imagine, the “crocodile tree” had little knobs with spines protruding from them, not unlike the sharp teeth of a crocodile. This species is endemic, while the agave plant is from South America.
On the tour of the animal biology department, we got to see the molecular biology laboratory as well as many preserved specimens. One of the specimens that particularly struck us was the incredibly rare coelacanth, which is a living fossil that filled in a major hole in the evolution of terrestrial animals.
Day 1
After 30 hours of traveling and no sleep, it’s safe to say I’m exhausted. But the city is beautiful and the food is good so far (besides the plane food)!
July 12th 2016
First day at Madagascar, took three flights and 30 hours to make the trip possible. People eat a lot of rice here, one of the first things you see leaving the airport is massive flooded rice fields.