Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The major factor responsible for the diversifi cation of Ranomafana's
lemurs into these dif erent species is the diversity of food in the forest—a
factor that is also behind many other cases of speciation. Greater, lesser, and
golden bamboo lemurs are extreme dietary specialists. They eat dif erent
parts of Madagascar's endemic giant bamboos. Some of these parts, like the
young shoots and the tender bases of the leaves, are tempting and nutrient-
rich. Others, like the woody stems, are more daunting.
No other animals eat the bamboo, because parts of the plants are loaded
with cyanide. There is enough of this poison in the plants to kill you or me,
and indeed enough to do in most species of lemur.
Cyanide works by interfering with cellular respiration. We are able to use
oxygen to burn our food and release energy because each of our cells contain
little descendants of free-living bacteria called mitochondria. We will learn
more about these supremely helpful creatures in Chapter 7, but for the moment
Figure 57
This hedgehog-like animal is a lowland yellow-streaked tenrec,
Hemicentetes
semispinosus
. It lurks in the leaf litter of Perinet Forest in eastern Madagascar.
