Photo: Red ruffed lemur at the Bronx Zoo’s new Madagascar exhibit
WCS / mongabay.com
June 25, 2008
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The critters in Madagascar! the Wildlife Conservation Society’s new immersion exhibit at the Bronx Zoo are really enjoying their new home.
Pictured here are a few of the red ruffed lemurs, one of five lemur species on display, shown “relaxing” in their Masoala rain forest habitat.
Madagascar! represents a dazzling reproduction of intriguing habitats on the world’s fourth largest island, located off Africa’s east coast and highlights the extraordinary array of exotic wildlife and the many threats and challenges to its existence.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been working to protect wildlife on Madagascar for over 20 years. Through its new exhibit — which showcases several species of lemurs, two huge Nile crocodiles in a 15,000 gallon enclosure, red fodys, rare radiated tortoises, a pair of fossa, and 100,000 hissing cockroaches — WCS hopes to inspire people to care about Madagascar, an island nation that has a wealth of wildlife diversity, but is in crisis because of deforestation.
Credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS