Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
animalswerefartooheavytobecapturedsimplywithastickytongue,soahigh-speed
videocamera wasbroughtintouse.Thisshowedthatachameleon isabletouseapair
of muscles at the tip of its tongue to form a suction cup milliseconds before it hits its
prey. The whole manoeuvre, from aim to mouthful, takes about half a second.
ThenameapparentlycomesfromGreekfor'dwarflion'.Isupposeahissing,open-
mouthed reptile could remind one of a lion, but to most visitors they are one of the
most appealing and bizarre of the 'strange and marvellous forms' on show.
A number of Madagascar's
tortoises
are severely threatened with extinction. Captive
breeding programmes at Ankarafantsika are currently successfully rearing the ploughshare
(
Astrochelys yniphora
) and flat-tailed tortoises (
Pyxis planicauda
) and further south, the
Beza-Mahafaly reserve is protecting the handsome radiated tortoise (
Astrochelys radiata
).
Four species of freshwater
turtle
inhabit the western waterways, the only endemic species
beingthebig-headedorside-neckedturtle(
Erymnochelysmadagascariensis
),nowalsobe-
ing bred at Ankarafantsika. Beyond, in the Mozambique Channel, there are
sea turtles
(hawksbill,loggerhead,OliveRidley,leatherbackandgreenturtles)whichperiodicallyrisk
the pot as they visit their nesting beaches.
BIRDS
With information from Derek Schuurman
Madagascar's score sheet of birds is surprisingly short: of 283 species recorded there, only
209 regularly breed on the island. However 51% of these are endemic, including five en-
demic families and 37 endemic genera - rendering Madagascar one of Africa's top birding
hotspots.
Key endemics include the three rail-like
mesites
- the brown mesite (
Mesitornis unicol-
or
) in the rainforests, the white-breasted mesite (
M. variegata
) in the western dry woods
and the subdesert mesite (
Monias benschi
) in the southwestern spiny bush. A similar al-
location of habitats is more generously employed by the ten species of
coua,
which bright-
en forests with their blue-masked faces. Six species are ground-dwellers, occupying roles
filled elsewhere by pheasants and roadrunners. Difficult to see are the
ground-rollers,
whichquietlypatroltherainforestfloorintheirprettyuniforms.Onememberofthefamily,
thelong-tailedground-roller(
Uratelornischimaera
),inhabitsthesouthwesternspinybush.
The two
asities
(
Philepitta
spp) resemble squat broadbills, to which they are related. In
theeasternrainforests,the
sunbird-asities
(
Neodrepanis
spp)appearasflashesofblueand
green in the canopy, their down-turned beaks designed for the nectaries of canopy flowers.
Beak variation is remarkable among Madagascar's most celebrated endemic family, the
vangas
. All species have perfected their own craft of insect capture, filling the niches of
various absent African bird groups, which they may resemble superficially. Vangas often
flock together or with other forest birds, presenting a formidable offensive for local inver-
tebrates. Most prominent is the sickle-billed vanga (
Falculea palliata
) which parallels the
