Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Madagascar has many species of small mammal, such as bats, rodents and tenrecs. Tenrecs
are related to shrews and fill a similar niche as tiny hunters of the leaf litter. Among their
diverse forms are shrew tenrecs, the hedgehog-like spiny tenrecs and even an otter-like
aquatic species.
There are six species of carnivore - all are mongooses and civets - including the ring-
tailed mongoose, the fanaloka and the puma-like, lemur-eating fossa.
Madagascar's waters harbour rich marine life - dolphins, dugongs and humpback
whales. Whales come to Madagascar to give birth and mate during winter months. See
Click here
for more on the whales' migration.
BIRDS
Madagascar's birdlife has the highest proportion of endemic birds of any country on earth:
of the 209 breeding species, 51% are endemic. A large percentage of birds are forest-dwell-
ing and therefore under pressure from land clearing.
Best Whale-Watching
»Baie d'Antongil
»Ile Sainte Marie
»Fort Dauphin
»Ifaty
»Nosy Be
Among Madagascar's unique bird families are the mesites - skulking, babblerlike birds
thought to be related to rails; the spectacular ground-rollers, including a roadrunner-like
species unique to the spiny forests; the tiny,iridescent asities, similar to sunbirds and filling
a similar niche; and the vangas, which have taken several strange twists as they evolved
to fill various forest niches. There are a number of predators - including the highly en-
dangered Madagascar serpent eagle and fish eagle - and nocturnal species as well.
Mostspeciesareresident(ienonmigratory),althoughafewareseasonalmigrantstoEast
Africa. Waterbirds are rather poorly represented in Madagascar because there are compar-
atively few large bodies of water; some of the best concentrations are on the west coast in
the Mahavy-Kinkony Wetland Complex. The richest habitat by far for birds (and all other
terrestrial life forms) is the rainforest of the eastern seaboard, although many of these spe-
cies are rare and poorly known.
REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS
There are 346 reptile species on Madagascar, including most of the world's chameleons,
ranging from the largest - Parson's chameleon, which grows to around 60cm - to the smal-
lest, the dwarf chameleons of the genus Brookesia, which fits on your thumbnail! You
might also spot the king of camouflage, the leaf-tailed gecko, and the amazingly colourful
