Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The patterns in the island's diversity tell us something of the timing of these colonisa-
tions. A large number of unique succulent plants indicates an early arrival from Africa in
thedrywest,followedbyaradiationeastwardsendingintherainforests.Ontheotherhand,
the two Malagasy pitcher plants found in the east probably arrived at about the same time
as people, and from the same direction.
From this great evolutionary melting pot has emerged the bewildering array of animals
and plants that bless Madagascar today; most are unique to the island and countless still
await discovery.
BIODIVERSITY
In recognition of its massive wealth of endemic flora and fauna, Mada-
gascar has been designated a Biodiversity Hotspot by Conservation International - and as
hotspots go, Madagascar is considered one of the hottest.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
Daniel Austin
Hundreds of thousands of animals and plants are known to science but most do not
have common names. Those that do may have many common names, or the same
name could be used for multiple plants or animals. To avoid confusion, scientists use
scientific names (sometimes called 'Latin names'). These are unambiguous and uni-
versalacrosslanguages,whichiswhywehaveoftenusedtheminthisbook.Forthose
who are not familiar with the system, here is a brief explanation.
AlllifeisdividedintokingdomsincludingPlantae(plants)andAnimalia(animals).
Each of these groups is divided, then further subdivided, through several levels of
classification,rightdowntoindividualspecies.Thebottomtwolevels(genusandspe-
cies) together form the scientific name. For example, mankind belongs to the genus
Homo
and the species
sapiens
. Our species can be written as
Homo sapiens
(or abbre-
viated to
H. sapiens
). Sometimes species are further divided into subspecies. Modern
humansbelongtoasubspecies(alsocalled
sapiens
)soifwewanttobereallyspecific,
we refer to ourselves as
Homo sapiens sapiens
.
You will encounter scientific names for plants and animals throughout this topic,
especially where there is no universally accepted common name.
MADAGASCAR'S EXTINCT MEGAFAUNA
Madagascarisfamedforitsbizarreanduniquewildlifetoday,butmanyoftheisland's
most fascinating animal inhabitants have long since disappeared.
RecentlyatrulyremarkablediscoverywasmadeinsouthernMadagascar.Scientists
unearthed two prosauropods (herbivorous dinosaurs) that dated back 230 million
