The world’s tiniest primate, the Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae), a creature small enough to curl inside a human fist, could soon disappear as the human imprint on its forest habitat grows. Since 2018, surveyors deployed at the lemur’s preferred habitat in Madagascar’s western dry forests have failed to spot the animal, stoking fears […]
Madagascar’s endangered lemurs are being killed during pandemic lockdowns
Early data paints a troubling picture for these animals and their habitat.
Mouse lemurs such as critically endangered Microcebus berthae are so small they can fit in the palm of your hand. As people have been turning to forests for food and fuel during the pandemic, exacerbating decades of deforestation, Madagascar’s 107 known species of lemurs are at even greater risk.Photograph by Bruno DAmicis, National Geographic
ByDina Fine Maron
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Tiana Andriamanana was alarmed when she saw the fires swallowing Madagascar’s forests in March. She’d grown used to seeing illegal burns for agricultural expansion, but such widespread blazes so early in the year were extremely unusual.
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The burning of Madagascar forests intensified this year since the pandemic lockdown started to clear forests to grow food crops and fell trees for firewood. Hunting also intensified as the critically-endangered Madagascar lemur became food.
An article from National Geographic describes how the world is losing the critically-endangered Madagascar lemur in the face of the pandemic lockdown.
The Madagascar Lemurs
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons )
The burning of Madagascar forests intensified this year since the pandemic lockdown started to clear forests to grow food crops and fell trees for firewood. Hunting also intensified as the critically-endangered Madagascar lemur became food.
Madagascar s varied forest types made the island an area with high biodiversity as it houses thousands of endemic plants and animals facing intense human pressure.