<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?s=&#038;type=post&#038;topic=lemurs" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/lemurs/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:31:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Lemurs</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/lemurs/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>Official tied to commercial breeding to represent US at global wildlife trade meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2026 20:50:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/11193438/RRL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323166</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Lemurs, Politics, Reptiles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jenifer Chatfield, a high-ranking U.S. official whose family breeds wild animals for profit, will reportedly lead the U.S. delegation attending next week’s meeting of CITES, the global wildlife treaty, in Geneva, Switzerland, multiple sources told Mongabay. Chatfield, who serves as the Department of the Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jenifer Chatfield, a high-ranking U.S. official whose family breeds wild animals for profit, will reportedly lead the U.S. delegation attending next week’s meeting of CITES, the global wildlife treaty, in Geneva, Switzerland, multiple sources told Mongabay. Chatfield, who serves as the Department of the Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is expected to attend the 34th meeting of the CITES Animals Committee, scheduled July 13-17. Sources, who wished to remain anonymous because of the fraught political climate in the U.S., informed Mongabay that Chatfield will participate as one of the six-member delegation attending the Animals Committee and Plants Committee meeting. These two scientific advisory bodies evaluate biological and taxonomic information about various animal and plant species to help CITES regulate international trade in endangered species. The committees meet twice between the every-three-year Conference of the Parties, which gathers all CITES signatories to vote on proposals. Chatfield, a board-certified veterinarian, appointed to her position in May 2025 by the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, will be leading a delegation of five scientists and another staff member from the U.S. Department of State, Mongabay has learned. This would be the first time such a delegation would be headed by a political appointee rather than a biologist well-versed in the sciences of conservation and taxonomy. “Usually, it is the chief of the U.S. CITES Scientific Authority who is the head of delegation,” said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy at the U.S.-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323166</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peter Klopfer, the scientist whose civil-rights case helped bring lemurs to Duke</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 00:04:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16000122/Peter-Klopfer-16x9-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321263</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ethics, Human Rights, Lemurs, Obituary, and Protests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the American South of the late 1950s, segregation was part of the daily architecture. Airports had separate facilities. Restaurants barred Black customers or served them apart. Schools, buses, waiting rooms, and lunch counters carried the same instructions. The system depended on law, custom, and the expectation that most white people would accommodate it. Resistance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the American South of the late 1950s, segregation was part of the daily architecture. Airports had separate facilities. Restaurants barred Black customers or served them apart. Schools, buses, waiting rooms, and lunch counters carried the same instructions. The system depended on law, custom, and the expectation that most white people would accommodate it. Resistance often began with small acts that carried real costs. A professor might drive arrested students back to campus. A family might refuse to send its children to segregated schools. A group of faculty members might walk toward a restaurant door together and be met in the parking lot by men who intended to stop them. The work required patience, and it also required a willingness to be arrested, disliked, and misunderstood. Peter Klopfer, who died on June 5 at 95, spent nearly seven decades at Duke University as a zoologist, teacher, and builder of institutions. He helped develop behavioral ecology, studied mother-offspring bonding, and co-founded the Duke Lemur Center, which became the world’s largest collection of lemurs outside Madagascar. He was also the named plaintiff in a Supreme Court case that extended the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial to state courts. The civil-rights defendant and the lemur scientist were the same man, formed by the same habits of attention and conscience. He was born in Berlin in 1930 and raised in a German immigrant family in the United States. He attended Friends schools and later studied at UCLA and Yale. At UCLA he&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321263</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A reforestation corridor in Madagascar offers a future for lemurs and locals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-reforestation-corridor-in-madagascar-offers-a-future-for-lemurs-and-locals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-reforestation-corridor-in-madagascar-offers-a-future-for-lemurs-and-locals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 22:07:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14174849/1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Ecotourism, Education, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Fungi, Health, Lemurs, Mammals, Plants, Primates, Reforestation, Restoration, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Madagascar, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve shelter around a dozen species of lemurs, alongside an extraordinary array of animals and plants, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Once connected by continuous rainforest, the landscape was fractured in the 1960s, when large stretches were cleared for agriculture and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Madagascar, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve shelter around a dozen species of lemurs, alongside an extraordinary array of animals and plants, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Once connected by continuous rainforest, the landscape was fractured in the 1960s, when large stretches were cleared for agriculture and cattle pasture. What remained was a patchwork of forest fragments separated by degraded land, limiting wildlife movement and threatening biodiversity. Today, a coalition of researchers, conservationists and local communities is working to reverse that fragmentation by rebuilding a forest corridor from the ground up. The reforestation corridor connecting Andasibe-Mantadia and Analamazoatra, launched in 2023, aims to restore 150 hectares (370 acres) of native forest and reconnect these two critical habitats. Led by the Mad Dog Initiative (MDI), a Madagascar-based wildlife conservation NGO, in partnership with The Dr. Abigail Ross Foundation for Applied Conservation (TDARFAC, a nonprofit conservation organization focused on Madagascar), Association Mitsinjo and Ecovision Village, the project represents a unique convergence of science, private investment and community action. It began not with a grand plan, but with an exchange of ideas and a shared commitment. As Kim Valenta of MDI recalled, she first recognized the physical disconnect between these two protected areas in 2017, while leading sterilization and vaccination campaigns to limit the impacts of free-roaming pets on wildlife in the region. She then met others who were also committed to restoring the broken landscape. “We looked at some maps, and shortly after I&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-reforestation-corridor-in-madagascar-offers-a-future-for-lemurs-and-locals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-reforestation-corridor-in-madagascar-offers-a-future-for-lemurs-and-locals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 18:44:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31182852/Natalee-Phelps_0508-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316665</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Forests, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Mammals, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees — whose seeds the lemurs themselves are helping to spread. When the delicious strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleyanum) are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees — whose seeds the lemurs themselves are helping to spread. When the delicious strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleyanum) are in fruit, lemurs will choose them over native fruit, says Amy Dunham, a biologist at Rice University in the U.S. On her last visit to Ranomafana National Park, in southeastern Madagascar, Dunham, who has been doing fieldwork there for more than 30 years, filmed an endangered Milne-Edwards’ sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi), a large lemur with a dark-brown and cream-colored coat, a black hairless face, and penetrating orange eyes. The sifaka was sitting in a thick guava patch munching on one of the ruby-red fruits. “For me, [the video] captures a big part of the picture,” Dunham says. “An endangered lemur can benefit from an invasive plant that is simultaneously undermining the long-term biodiversity and functioning of the forest.” Dunham and colleagues carried out a study in Ranomafana in 2024 that found that where strawberry guavas, originally from Brazil, had taken hold, they created thick, impenetrable patches in areas of forest that had been disturbed as far back as the 1930s. These thickets, which Dunham refers to as “monocultures,” drain key nutrients from the soil, suppress the growth of native plants, and strip away the diversity of insects and other invertebrates. The loss of insect diversity means&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316665</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lemurs are being eaten as an urban delicacy in Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lemurs-are-being-eaten-as-an-urban-delicacy-in-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lemurs-are-being-eaten-as-an-urban-delicacy-in-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 14:48:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/16185743/madagascar_0591_22-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310301</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Lemurs, Mammals, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Madagascar’s cities, a quiet but lucrative market is reshaping the future of one of the world’s most imperiled groups of animals. Lemurs—already the most threatened mammals on the planet—are being sold as a kind of urban delicacy, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Madagascar’s cities, a quiet but lucrative market is reshaping the future of one of the world’s most imperiled groups of animals. Lemurs—already the most threatened mammals on the planet—are being sold as a kind of urban delicacy, traded through discreet channels that rarely resemble the conventional wildlife markets familiar across Africa or Asia. A study published in the journal Conservation Letters shows just how large this shadow economy has become, and how little time remains to address it. A black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) is an endangered species of ruffed lemur that is especially targeted for consumption because of its large body size. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Researchers interviewed 2,600 people across 17 cities and traced the trade from restaurants back to forests. What they found was not a fringe activity. One in every 12 restaurants sold wild meat, and roughly one in every 200 served lemur. That may sound small, but restaurants are only the visible part of the system. More than 94% of lemur sales happen directly between hunters and trusted clients. Once that hidden portion is counted, the authors estimate that nearly 13,000 lemurs are sold each year in the surveyed cities alone. The true number is likely higher, because even hunters willing to speak tend to underreport their catch. The supply chain is short and surprisingly efficient. Peri-urban hunters operate as one-stop businesses: they track lemurs, shoot them, process them,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lemurs-are-being-eaten-as-an-urban-delicacy-in-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lemurs-are-being-eaten-as-an-urban-delicacy-in-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310301</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Urban appetite for lemur meat piles pressure on iconic primates</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/urban-appetite-for-lemur-meat-piles-pressure-on-iconic-primates/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/urban-appetite-for-lemur-meat-piles-pressure-on-iconic-primates/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 18:46:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mino Rakotovao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/01143704/madagascar_ankarafantsika_0068-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306910</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bushmeat, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Food, food security, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Lemurs, Mammals, Meat, Primates, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Ninety-five percent of lemur species are threatened by habitat loss, hunting and climate change. The direct threat is often understood to result from the actions of poor rural communities, but a forthcoming study has found that thousands of threatened lemurs are being hunted and killed every year to feed a lucrative urban market [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Ninety-five percent of lemur species are threatened by habitat loss, hunting and climate change. The direct threat is often understood to result from the actions of poor rural communities, but a forthcoming study has found that thousands of threatened lemurs are being hunted and killed every year to feed a lucrative urban market for their meat in cities across Madagascar. “And 95% of that is through a hidden, direct-to-consumer trade, not restaurants,” study author Cortni Borgerson told Mongabay. “A single specialist trade-hunter can sell over 200 lemurs a year to their city clients.” Borgerson, an anthropologist at Montclair State University in the United States, has uncovered a highly organized luxury trade carried out by specialist hunters armed with shotguns. Lemur meat is by far the most expensive meat in Madagascar’s cities, a market fueled by wealthy urban consumers seeking both a connection to the wild and a self-care practice believed to preserve youth and health: “It’s seen as a natural, wild food that can counteract the health anxieties of an increasingly modern, urban diet and lifestyle, while also providing a luxury sense of rarity and quality,” Borgerson said. A black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), an endangered species of ruffed lemur. Traders hunting lemurs for the urban luxury market are after large-bodied species like brown and ruffed lemurs. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Damaging luxuries Rural subsistence hunting and the urban trade of lemur meat are largely separate but parallel systems, Borgerson said, though both exert pressure on lemur&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/urban-appetite-for-lemur-meat-piles-pressure-on-iconic-primates/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/urban-appetite-for-lemur-meat-piles-pressure-on-iconic-primates/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306910</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar’s dry forests need attention, and Verreaux’s sifakas could help</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/madagascars-dry-forests-need-attention-and-verreauxs-sifakas-could-help/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/madagascars-dry-forests-need-attention-and-verreauxs-sifakas-could-help/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2025 14:35:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mino Rakotovao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/15104055/Verreauxs-Sifaka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305893</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fires, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Land Use Change, Lemurs, Mammals, Parks, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Which tropical habitats are worthy of conservation? Humid forests, with their dazzling species counts, easily gain notice. Dry forests may not boast the same numbers, but their unique rhythms of life are just as vital — and a charismatic inhabitant, the Verreaux’s sifaka, is helping make their case in Madagascar. “Conservation efforts and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Which tropical habitats are worthy of conservation? Humid forests, with their dazzling species counts, easily gain notice. Dry forests may not boast the same numbers, but their unique rhythms of life are just as vital — and a charismatic inhabitant, the Verreaux’s sifaka, is helping make their case in Madagascar. “Conservation efforts and international funding have long focused on the eastern rainforests, by both conservation organizations or by development organizations, in Madagascar and globally,” primatologist Rebecca Lewis told Mongabay, “[Meanwhile], in the west and southwest [of Madagascar], the situation is just as serious, with widespread food insecurity, increased bushmeat hunting, and similar threats like deforestation and reliance of local communities on forest resources.” At the recently-concluded International Primatological Society (IPS) congress, Lewis, founder of Ankoatsifaka Initiative for Dry Forests (AID Forests), advocated for inclusion of Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) on the most recent list of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates not only because the species is critically endangered, but also because its listing could serve as a rallying point to protect its habitat in Madagascar’s dry forests. Found across southern and southwestern Madagascar, Verreaux’s sifaka is a diurnal lemur that lives in family groups and holds local cultural significance. As a seed disperser, it plays a vital role in regenerating and maintaining the diverse forests and habitats it occupies. This primate is classed as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global conservation authority, due to severe threats from habitat loss, hunting and, in some areas, low genetic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/madagascars-dry-forests-need-attention-and-verreauxs-sifakas-could-help/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/madagascars-dry-forests-need-attention-and-verreauxs-sifakas-could-help/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305893</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Collaboration key to lemur survival: Interview with primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/collaboration-key-to-lemur-survival-interview-with-primatologist-jonah-ratsimbazafy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/collaboration-key-to-lemur-survival-interview-with-primatologist-jonah-ratsimbazafy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2025 20:01:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mino Rakotovao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/08143034/madagascar_191843-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lemurs, Monkeys, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — “Tomorrow offers two paths. On the left, extinction. On the right, survival,” eminent primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy told the recently concluded 30th Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Antananarivo in July. “We are in the middle now; and I believe, like me, you will choose the path on the right. The choice [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — “Tomorrow offers two paths. On the left, extinction. On the right, survival,” eminent primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy told the recently concluded 30th Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Antananarivo in July. “We are in the middle now; and I believe, like me, you will choose the path on the right. The choice is ours to make. Never give up!” The outgoing president of the society, Ratsimbazafy was addressing the opening of its most recent congress, attended by members from more than 50 countries alongside delegates representing all of Madagascar’s universities. Organizers called the event a moment of visibility for Madagascar, home to the world’s only entirely endemic primate fauna. In an interview with Mongabay, Ratsimbazafy reflected on the state of research and protection for the island’s iconic lemurs over the span of his five-year presidency of the IPS. He stressed several key areas he hopes researchers and governments in Madagascar and beyond will continue to address in the future. Jonah Ratsimbazafy: &#8216;Too often, researchers debate among themselves about how things should be done, without involving decision-makers or the local communities who are directly affected.&#8217; Image courtesy of Jonah Ratsimbazafy via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Mongabay: Looking back over the past 60 years, what progress has been made in primate research and conservation? Jonah Ratsimbazafy: Over the last 60 years, we’ve seen growth in the number of organizations, field stations, research labs, journals dedicated to primates, associations, membership —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/collaboration-key-to-lemur-survival-interview-with-primatologist-jonah-ratsimbazafy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/collaboration-key-to-lemur-survival-interview-with-primatologist-jonah-ratsimbazafy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New list of primates in peril aims to focus attention and inspire action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-list-of-primates-in-peril-aims-to-focus-attention-and-inspire-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-list-of-primates-in-peril-aims-to-focus-attention-and-inspire-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2025 09:54:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mino Rakotovao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/05051106/VerreauxssifakaPropithecus.verreauxi_JohnQuineFlicrkBYNCSA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Cameroon, Central Africa, Madagascar, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Lemurs, Monkeys, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — For more than six decades, the International Primatological Society (IPS) has brought scientists, conservationists and educators from around the world together every two years to exchange ideas and drive primate research and conservation. The 30th IPS Congress welcomed nearly 800 participants from around the world to Madagascar, the “Land of Lemurs.” It’s a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — For more than six decades, the International Primatological Society (IPS) has brought scientists, conservationists and educators from around the world together every two years to exchange ideas and drive primate research and conservation. The 30th IPS Congress welcomed nearly 800 participants from around the world to Madagascar, the “Land of Lemurs.” It’s a long-standing tradition of the congress to publish a list of the world’s 25 most threatened primates to draw attention to species at particularly high risk and inspire action to protect them. Drawn up as a collaboration between the IPS, the Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority; and conservation NGO Re:wild, this recurring initiative highlights that more than two in five of the world’s primates were classified as endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2023. Multiple criteria are considered when nominating the most threatened 25, among them geographic and taxonomic representation, uniqueness, and the potential conservation impact of being listed. The endangered Comibra Filho’s titi (Callicebus coimbrai) is threatened by the destruction of its Atlantic Forest habitat in Brazil. This monkey&#8217;s range has shrunk to just disconnected fragments totaling around 200 sq km (77 sq mi). Image by Tito Garcez via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0 ) “Listing a species in ‘Primates in Peril’ is a critical call to action,” said Leandro Jerusalinsky, deputy chair of the IUCN’s Primate Specialist Group Neotropics section, “amplifying awareness and galvanizing conservation efforts by targeting governments, donors, and NGOs.” Inza Koné, president&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-list-of-primates-in-peril-aims-to-focus-attention-and-inspire-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-list-of-primates-in-peril-aims-to-focus-attention-and-inspire-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 25 most threatened primates highlighted in new report urging action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2025 16:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/08133559/Microcebus-berthae-Madame-Berthes-Mouse-lemur-c-Matthias-Markolf-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298810</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, Madagascar, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Gorillas, Lemurs, Monkeys, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two-thirds of all primates are in danger of disappearing, including 100 that have only been described by science in the last 25 years. To spotlight their plight, leading conservation organizations compiled a list of 25 of the most endangered primates in the latest edition of the “Primates in Peril” report. “Since its inception 25 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two-thirds of all primates are in danger of disappearing, including 100 that have only been described by science in the last 25 years. To spotlight their plight, leading conservation organizations compiled a list of 25 of the most endangered primates in the latest edition of the “Primates in Peril” report. “Since its inception 25 years ago, the Top 25 list has made a significant contribution to primate conservation, highlighting those species in greatest need and often stimulating major conservation measures such as the creation of new protected areas and increased funding for the target species,” said Russell Mittermeier, a renowned U.S. primatologist who heads the Primate Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. While many in the order, which includes everything from great apes like gorillas and chimpanzees, to monkeys, lemurs, bush babies and humans, face dire conditions, the selection of the top 25 is purposeful, scientists involved in the report, told Mongabay. It is not a strict ranking based on the severity of threats species face but also aims to be representative of the different geographic regions where primates live and the wide diversity within the primate order. “We also try to select species where inclusion is actually going to be helpful” and spur conservation efforts, Mittermeier said. The variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), found in Colombia and Venezuela, is one of the 25 most threatened primates in the world. Image courtesy of Andrés Link. The new report is a collaboration between the IUCN, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298810</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chanel wanted ‘responsible’ gold. It turned to a protected area in Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chanel-wanted-responsible-gold-so-it-turned-to-a-protected-area-in-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chanel-wanted-responsible-gold-so-it-turned-to-a-protected-area-in-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Feb 2025 18:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika VyawahareRivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/29151245/1726540561483-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289351</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Lemurs, Mining, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANDRANOTSIMATY, Madagascar — On an August afternoon, a conspiracy of golden-crowned sifakas made their way across Andranotsimaty, a settlement inside Loky Manambato Protected Area in Madagascar. There are other kinds of gold here too. It was here that Roméo Richard Mananjara hit pay dirt in 2017. Gold-rich soil he collected near his family’s well yielded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANDRANOTSIMATY, Madagascar — On an August afternoon, a conspiracy of golden-crowned sifakas made their way across Andranotsimaty, a settlement inside Loky Manambato Protected Area in Madagascar. There are other kinds of gold here too. It was here that Roméo Richard Mananjara hit pay dirt in 2017. Gold-rich soil he collected near his family’s well yielded 10 grams, or a third of an ounce, of the precious metal. Soon, miners from near and far poured into the area. Two years later, this corner of Madagascar became the focus of a proposed gold-extraction project led by a player from far beyond Malagasy shores: the French luxury giant Chanel. The plan was to buy gold from artisanal miners operating inside Loky Manambato. A 2019 report commissioned by Chanel and shared with Mongabay by French accountability platform Climate Whistleblowers called it an “innovative” approach to sourcing gold from “environmentally-delicate settings.” In this case, the setting was a 500-square-kilometer (193-square-mile) chunk of Loky Manambato — a fifth of the protected area. Chanel shared a statement with Mongabay suggesting Loky Manambato was one of the “research projects” undertaken by the company “to study the possibility of setting up new supply chains, in line with the ethical, social, and environmental principles it defends.” It did not respond to specific requests for comment about the project. In 2020, the Malagasy government banned gold exports. Chanel says it never actually sourced any gold from Loky Manambato, but conservationists argue that a multinational’s attempt to make a protected area a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chanel-wanted-responsible-gold-so-it-turned-to-a-protected-area-in-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chanel-wanted-responsible-gold-so-it-turned-to-a-protected-area-in-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289351</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar lemurs, tortoises seized in Thai bust reveal reach of wildlife trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/madagascar-lemurs-tortoises-seized-in-thai-bust-reveal-reach-of-wildlife-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/madagascar-lemurs-tortoises-seized-in-thai-bust-reveal-reach-of-wildlife-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2024 06:12:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/28040804/CBL_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283834</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Lemurs, Mammals, Pet Trade, Reptiles, Social Justice, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May, authorities in southern Thailand arrested six people for illegally transporting 48 lemurs and more than 1,200 critically endangered tortoises, all of which had reportedly been obtained from the wild in Madagascar. The seizure is the latest in a string of illegal wildlife trade busts in Thailand. Red pandas (Ailurus fulgens), monitor lizards, snakes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May, authorities in southern Thailand arrested six people for illegally transporting 48 lemurs and more than 1,200 critically endangered tortoises, all of which had reportedly been obtained from the wild in Madagascar. The seizure is the latest in a string of illegal wildlife trade busts in Thailand. Red pandas (Ailurus fulgens), monitor lizards, snakes and parrots have been uncovered in similar incidents in the country in recent months, for instance. However, the recent seizure of so many critically endangered animals from Madagascar has alarmed experts, who say the latest bust underscores the global reach of wildlife trafficking networks using Thailand as a transshipment hub for illegally sourced wild animals and plants. “The quantity seized points strongly towards the existence of an organized network of traffickers, and the use of the sea route to move the animals out of the national territory,”   Simon Rafanomezantsoa, lead of WWF Madagascar’s antitrafficking team, said in a statement. Authorities discovered the animals caged and boxed in cramped conditions in six pickup trucks in Chumphon province on May 1. The authorities were acting on intelligence from an international investigation operating in the country to clamp down on cross-border organized wildlife crime. In total, authorities uncovered 1,234 tortoises: 357 radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) and 877 spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides), both of which are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Among the lemurs were 16 ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) and 32 common brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus), listed respectively as endangered and vulnerable on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/madagascar-lemurs-tortoises-seized-in-thai-bust-reveal-reach-of-wildlife-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/madagascar-lemurs-tortoises-seized-in-thai-bust-reveal-reach-of-wildlife-trafficking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283834</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beyond the myths: Anthropologist Alison Richard on Madagascar&#8217;s environmental realities and future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/beyond-the-myths-anthropologist-alison-richard-on-madagascars-environmental-realities-and-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/beyond-the-myths-anthropologist-alison-richard-on-madagascars-environmental-realities-and-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2024 23:18:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/03195110/madagascar_193366_24-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277344</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lemurs, Mammals, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The island nation of Madagascar is celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity, characterized by remarkably high rates of endemicism; approximately 90% of its wildlife is unique to the island, making it an unique and irreplaceable treasure trove of biological richness. This includes a myriad of distinctive species, such as lemurs, chameleons, and a diverse range of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The island nation of Madagascar is celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity, characterized by remarkably high rates of endemicism; approximately 90% of its wildlife is unique to the island, making it an unique and irreplaceable treasure trove of biological richness. This includes a myriad of distinctive species, such as lemurs, chameleons, and a diverse range of plant life, all evolved within the island&#8217;s isolated and varied ecosystems. However, Madagascar is also synonymous with loss, particularly the extinction of its largest animal species and the degradation of habitats. Conventional wisdom holds that the island was entirely forested before human settlement, with early settlers decimating most of these forests. This view, propagated in the early 20th century without concrete evidence, simplifies the island&#8217;s environmental history by neglecting the historical presence of grasslands and the archaeological record. Alison Richard, a distinguished anthropologist, has challenged this traditional narrative of Madagascar&#8217;s environmental history by leveraging a growing body of research that suggests a more nuanced reality. In her recent book, &#8220;The Sloth Lemur&#8217;s Song: Madagascar from the Deep Past to the Uncertain Present,&#8221; Richard weaves a captivating story covering the island&#8217;s geological past to its current conservation challenges. Her work critically assesses the narratives of blame, stemming from colonial history, that have influenced perceptions of Madagascar&#8217;s environmental issues. &#8220;Probably the single most important misconception is that Madagascar was totally covered by forest before people arrived and destroyed 90% of it,&#8221; Richard told Mongabay.&#8221;A practical consequence of the emphasis on forests is that, to my knowledge, only&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/beyond-the-myths-anthropologist-alison-richard-on-madagascars-environmental-realities-and-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/beyond-the-myths-anthropologist-alison-richard-on-madagascars-environmental-realities-and-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277344</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Some tree-dwelling primates may adapt more easily to life on the ground, massive study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/some-tree-dwelling-primates-may-adapt-more-easily-to-life-on-the-ground-massive-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/some-tree-dwelling-primates-may-adapt-more-easily-to-life-on-the-ground-massive-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2022 02:16:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elise Overgaard]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/30170520/colombia_0769-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263130</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Lemurs, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some primates spend their entire lives in trees. They avoid the ground, where preferred food is scarce and predators lurk. But deforestation and climate change are threatening their homes in the branches. Habitat loss has some primates swinging down to see what the ground offers, scientists reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some primates spend their entire lives in trees. They avoid the ground, where preferred food is scarce and predators lurk. But deforestation and climate change are threatening their homes in the branches. Habitat loss has some primates swinging down to see what the ground offers, scientists reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The massive study included more than 150,000 hours of observations from 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. A global team of 118 researchers analyzed 34 years of field observations of tree-dwelling monkey and lemur species. “We wanted to understand what factors were the most influential in increasing ground use” by arboreal primates, said Timothy Eppley, postdoctoral fellow at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in California. Eppley led the study, and several of the co-authors credit his leadership for its success. A Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) sits alert while foraging on the forest floor in Madagascar. Photo credit: Timothy Eppley On average, primates in the study spent less than 5 percent of their time on the ground. It doesn’t sound like much, but any time on the ground is dangerous. Predators can strike in a matter of seconds, said study co-author Patricia Wright, a conservation biologist at Stony Brook University in New York. Even so, some animals take the risk. The study revealed that species with certain social and physical traits may have an advantage. Primates with diverse diets and larger group sizes might adapt more easily to terrestrial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/some-tree-dwelling-primates-may-adapt-more-easily-to-life-on-the-ground-massive-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/some-tree-dwelling-primates-may-adapt-more-easily-to-life-on-the-ground-massive-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263130</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World’s smallest primate is fading into extinction, scientists fear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/worlds-smallest-primate-is-fading-into-extinction-scientists-fear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/worlds-smallest-primate-is-fading-into-extinction-scientists-fear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2022 06:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/30151135/Microcebus-Berthe-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260964</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forest Loss, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Mammals, Primates, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s tiniest primate, the Madame Berthe&#8217;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 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s tiniest primate, the Madame Berthe&#8217;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 that the lemur, described just 30 years ago, is already on the verge of extinction. Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar, which is home to an astounding variety of them: more than 100 are known to science. But most of these species occupy niche habitats, amplifying the danger from habitat loss. Nearly all 107 lemur species on the IUCN Red List are on the path toward extinction, with 103 falling in the critically endangered or endangered categories. Signaling a deepening environmental crisis in a renowned biodiversity hotspot, this September, another team of researchers warned that the Milne-Edwards&#8217;s sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi), a species native to the tropical rainforests of eastern Madagascar, could vanish in 25 years. Researchers have warned that, due to deforestation and climate extremes, the Milne-Edwards’s sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi), a species native to the tropical rainforests of eastern Madagascar, could vanish in 25 years. Image courtesy of Patricia Wright/ Centre ValBio. “The risk of extinction accelerates dramatically when we take into account deforestation and climate extremes,” said Eric Isai Ameca y Juárez, a specialist in biodiversity loss and climate change at Beijing Normal University. The team, including researchers from Centre ValBio, Ranomafana National Park in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/worlds-smallest-primate-is-fading-into-extinction-scientists-fear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/worlds-smallest-primate-is-fading-into-extinction-scientists-fear/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260964</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;Unprecedented&#8217; fires in Madagascar national park threaten livelihoods and lemurs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/fires-in-madagascar-national-park-threaten-livelihoods-and-lemurs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/fires-in-madagascar-national-park-threaten-livelihoods-and-lemurs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2021 20:38:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/23193334/madagascar_ankarafantsika_0068-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251083</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Endangered Species, Environment, Farming, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Mammals, National Parks, Poverty, Primates, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Historically, the dry forests of western Madagascar did not receive as much interest from conservationists as the country’s eastern rainforests. One study published in 2015 in International Forestry Review found that the dry forests had been “neglected.” In recent years, they have faced increasing threats. For example, Menabe Antimena Protected Area, in the southwest, has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Historically, the dry forests of western Madagascar did not receive as much interest from conservationists as the country’s eastern rainforests. One study published in 2015 in International Forestry Review found that the dry forests had been “neglected.” In recent years, they have faced increasing threats. For example, Menabe Antimena Protected Area, in the southwest, has faced overwhelming deforestation pressure from corn farmers. Now a dry forest in Madagascar’s northwest is also threatened. Ankarafantsika National Park, the beating heart of one of the country’s largest dry forests, is home to iconic lemur species such as the critically endangered Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli), as well as about a dozen communities that rely on its resources. For many decades, the park was relatively well protected, but since 2016 it’s faced a serious threat: too much fire. This year’s fires were the worst yet. Two conflagrations in September and October — peak fire season — together burned more than 40 square kilometers (about 15 square miles), an area that would cover two-thirds of Manhattan. Hundreds of local people used water bags to fight the fires, putting them out after many days in each case. But the damage was severe. Ankarafantsika National Park protects an oasis of forest in the midst of a deforested landscape. But data from NASA (VIIRS) shows a large portion of this oasis burned in 2021. Burn scars from fires that raged between August and October 2021 stretch across more than 22 kilometers (11 miles) of Ankarafantsika National Park. Imagery from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/fires-in-madagascar-national-park-threaten-livelihoods-and-lemurs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/fires-in-madagascar-national-park-threaten-livelihoods-and-lemurs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After a pandemic reprieve, loggers return to a unique Madagascar forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/after-a-pandemic-reprieve-loggers-return-to-a-unique-madagascar-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/after-a-pandemic-reprieve-loggers-return-to-a-unique-madagascar-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Nov 2021 08:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/09130602/patroller-Rakoto-is-amongst-the-faithful-protectors-of-Vohibola-Madagascar-forest-restoration-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249216</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Landscape Restoration, Lemurs, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Restoration, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VOHIBOLA FOREST, Madagascar — The COVID-19 crisis has devastated Madagascar’s tourism sector, sending communities near the country’s iconic forests into a period of economic hardship even tighter than usual for the impoverished country. This is the case around the Vohibola forest, one of the last scraps of primary forest still standing in eastern Madagascar, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VOHIBOLA FOREST, Madagascar — The COVID-19 crisis has devastated Madagascar’s tourism sector, sending communities near the country’s iconic forests into a period of economic hardship even tighter than usual for the impoverished country. This is the case around the Vohibola forest, one of the last scraps of primary forest still standing in eastern Madagascar, and home to the world’s tiniest frogs and other natural oddities. At the same time, something pleasant happened here in the wild, which was left quiet when visitors vanished. Last February, patrollers were astonished to meet a family of diademed sifakas (Propithecus diadema), a critically endangered species of lemur they believed had disappeared from the forest years earlier. “The last time I saw these animals in Vohibola dates back to 2008,” said Cyril Nabe, who has worked to conserve the forest since 2000. He currently serves as chief patroller and also as a council member for the commune of Ambinaninony, where the forest is located. “There now seem to be some places in the forest with better conditions for them to survive,”  Nabe said. Malagasy people have long appreciated the idyllic landscape, unusual fauna, and medicinal value of the flora in Vohibola. According to elders in Andranokoditra, one of the four main villages surrounding Vohibola, Madagascar’s first president, Philibert Tsiranana, who governed from 1959 to 1972, vacationed here. The vestige of his residence is still visible. Before the pandemic, the four villages welcomed nature lovers and researchers from abroad, and depended partly on the income they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/after-a-pandemic-reprieve-loggers-return-to-a-unique-madagascar-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/after-a-pandemic-reprieve-loggers-return-to-a-unique-madagascar-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World Lemur Day celebrated in Madagascar with new postage stamps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/world-lemur-day-celebrated-in-madagascar-with-new-postage-stamps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/world-lemur-day-celebrated-in-madagascar-with-new-postage-stamps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2021 14:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/29135041/mouse-lemur-stamp-banner-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248768</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Lemurs, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[World Lemur Day kicked off today in Madagascar, the global home of these iconic primates, at Parc Tsimbazaza, the National Zoo, with a day full of activities, many for children. An event yesterday in the capital of Antananarivo marked the announcement of six new postage stamps celebrating lemurs, including the recently described mouse lemur Microcebus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[World Lemur Day kicked off today in Madagascar, the global home of these iconic primates, at Parc Tsimbazaza, the National Zoo, with a day full of activities, many for children. An event yesterday in the capital of Antananarivo marked the announcement of six new postage stamps celebrating lemurs, including the recently described mouse lemur Microcebus jonahi, the black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus), the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema), and the brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus).  The sixth stamp is of primatologist, conservationist and professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy, who was recently elected President of the International Primatological Society. The stamps are aimed at raising awareness of this aspect of the country&#8217;s rich natural heritage (view all of Mongabay&#8217;s Madagascar coverage here). A Jonah&#8217;s mouse lemur (M. jonahi). Image by Dominik Schüßler. Lemur expert Patricia Wright was there to help celebrate these amazing animals: &#8220;It was such an historic event to have lemurs honored with these six beautiful stamps, reminding the country and the world of these valued primate treasures,&#8221; Wright told Mongabay by email. She is executive director of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments at Stony Brook University and founder of the country&#8217;s Centre Valbio, which supports the study of Madagascar’s unique wildlife, develops understanding of the links between the environment and the rural economy, and more. Mongabay Kids got in the spirit too by celebrating its World Lemur Festival, leading up to World Lemur Day today, October 29th, 2021. In partnership with the Lemur Conservation Network,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/world-lemur-day-celebrated-in-madagascar-with-new-postage-stamps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/world-lemur-day-celebrated-in-madagascar-with-new-postage-stamps/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248768</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Malagasy trapped in poverty, threatened lemurs and fossas are fair game</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/for-malagasy-trapped-in-poverty-threatened-lemurs-and-fossas-are-fair-game/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/for-malagasy-trapped-in-poverty-threatened-lemurs-and-fossas-are-fair-game/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2021 09:20:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/04072133/madagascar_0597_Rhett-768x512-1.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245505</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bushmeat, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Food, food security, Lemurs, Meat, Primates, Research, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Madagascar’s jungles, the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is king. A cousin of the mongoose, this cat-like creature is the island’s top predator, able to hunt Madagascar’s other unique offering to the world: lemurs. Humans feed on both. The problem: lemurs and fossas are threatened and endemic species protected under Malagasy law. About half of the households [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Madagascar’s jungles, the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is king. A cousin of the mongoose, this cat-like creature is the island’s top predator, able to hunt Madagascar’s other unique offering to the world: lemurs. Humans feed on both. The problem: lemurs and fossas are threatened and endemic species protected under Malagasy law. About half of the households surveyed in a recent study reported eating lemur meat and a quarter had consumed fossa meat. Consumption of wild meat is considered a major threat to conservation efforts by protected area managers in other parts of Africa too. To design an intervention to reduce hunting pressure, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) interviewed people living in and around Makira Natural Park (MNP). They wanted to gauge the significance of lemur and fossa meat in local diets. A fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) the top predator in Madagascar&#8217;s jungles. Image by Julie Larsen Maher/WCS. These hunters don’t seek to deliberately break laws; they’re mostly villagers falling back on survival tactics that have existed in their communities for millennia. Bushmeat is important in their diet, which is otherwise rice-heavy and lacks protein. Lemurs and fossas, Madagascar’s largest mammal, are hefty meat sources. They also hunt the indri (Indri Indri), the biggest lemur in existence today. This long-limbed primate sports panda colors and grows to up to 72 centimeters (28 inches). Despite its gangly appearance, it’s quite acrobatic, bounding from tree to tree. MNP is one of the last remaining refuges of the indri, and is also home to 16 other kinds&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/for-malagasy-trapped-in-poverty-threatened-lemurs-and-fossas-are-fair-game/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/for-malagasy-trapped-in-poverty-threatened-lemurs-and-fossas-are-fair-game/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245505</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Slash-and-burn farming eats away at a Madagascar haven for endangered lemurs, frogs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/slash-and-burn-farming-eats-away-at-a-madagascar-haven-for-endangered-lemurs-frogs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/slash-and-burn-farming-eats-away-at-a-madagascar-haven-for-endangered-lemurs-frogs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2021 00:43:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/09003511/Greater_bamboo_lemur_Prolemur_simus_male_2-feat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240342</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Amphibians, Animals, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Frogs, Green, Habitat Loss, Herps, Illegal Mining, Lemurs, Mammals, Mining, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reptiles, Slash-and-burn, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is so rampant throughout Madagascar, an island far larger than California, that it’s easy to forget the impact of tree clearance in any one specific area of the country — the lemurs that lose their habitats, the orchids that no longer bloom, the people whose land becomes barren. But recent activity in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is so rampant throughout Madagascar, an island far larger than California, that it’s easy to forget the impact of tree clearance in any one specific area of the country — the lemurs that lose their habitats, the orchids that no longer bloom, the people whose land becomes barren. But recent activity in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor (CAZ), a large protected area in central eastern Madagascar, has raised concerns that one of the country’s most important tropical rainforests is being lost. Over the past five months, CAZ has seen a number of spikes in deforestation activity, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD) visualized on Global Forest Watch. This isn’t a new problem — CAZ has faced high levels of tree clearance for several years — but preliminary data indicate that it’s getting worse. Local sources say the forests are being lost primarily to swidden agriculture (slash-and-burn), a practice that can increase during times of economic difficulty. With less income during the pandemic, local people have sought to increase their rice yields by using more forestland. The trend spells major trouble for the 15 lemur species that live in CAZ as well as endangered amphibians endemic to CAZ, such as the black-eared mantella frog (Mantella milotympanum), the Scaphiophryne boribory frog, and the Paroedura masobe gecko. The masobe gecko (Paroedura masobe) is endangered. Image by Jaine via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). The black-eared mantella frog (Mantella milotympanum) is critically endangered. Its main threat is habitat loss. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/slash-and-burn-farming-eats-away-at-a-madagascar-haven-for-endangered-lemurs-frogs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/slash-and-burn-farming-eats-away-at-a-madagascar-haven-for-endangered-lemurs-frogs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2020 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/photos-top-15-species-discoveries-from-2020/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/photos-top-15-species-discoveries-from-2020/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2020 12:13:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/27225207/SD_Langur.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238311</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Frogs, Fungi, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Lemurs, Orchids, Salamanders, Snakes, Species Discovery, Spiders, Wildlife, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In this well-trodden world, the discovery of a species new to science is an exciting event, a glimmer of the uncharted riches of biodiversity still hidden around the globe. “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In this well-trodden world, the discovery of a species new to science is an exciting event, a glimmer of the uncharted riches of biodiversity still hidden around the globe. “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants and fungi that have not been scientifically described,” says the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released in September by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew). Many new species were described this year, including several snakes, frogs, insects, and even new primate species. Turning to the ocean, scientists spotted a beaked whale that may be a new species and a mysterious coiled siphonophore believed to be the longest animal ever recorded. This coiled siphonophore, found by the Schmidt Ocean Institute off the coast of Australia, is believed to be the largest animal ever recorded, measuring 46 meters (150 feet) in length. Photo via Schmidt Ocean Institute. Plants and fungi also continue to represent an underexplored frontier of diversity. This year, the RBG Kew named 156 plants and fungi from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the U.K. The Missouri Botanical Gardens recently named 10 charismatic plant discoveries from 2020, including a new species of ebony tree, a carnivorous sundew, and a new mint.  However, although a species may be new to science, that doesn’t mean it has never been seen or named. “Many species that are new to science are already known&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/photos-top-15-species-discoveries-from-2020/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/photos-top-15-species-discoveries-from-2020/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238311</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Madagascar forest long protected by its remoteness is now threatened by it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/a-madagascar-forest-long-protected-by-its-remoteness-is-now-threatened-by-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/a-madagascar-forest-long-protected-by-its-remoteness-is-now-threatened-by-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2020 20:55:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/21193459/Silky_Sifaka_mom_and_infant_close-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238148</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Slash-and-burn, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The mountainous forests of northern Madagascar are biodiverse beyond measure, containing plant and animal species found nowhere else on the planet. Other forests in Madagascar have been lost in recent centuries and decades, but these have stood the test of time and remained relatively unscathed. They are difficult to access, and some have been officially [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The mountainous forests of northern Madagascar are biodiverse beyond measure, containing plant and animal species found nowhere else on the planet. Other forests in Madagascar have been lost in recent centuries and decades, but these have stood the test of time and remained relatively unscathed. They are difficult to access, and some have been officially protected since the 1920s. And yet their protected status is no longer enough: satellite data show they are now being cut down at an increasing rate. In May, Mongabay reported on the dire situation in Tsaratanana Reserve. Since then, deforestation has continued apace, both in Tsaratanana and a neighboring protected area called COMATSA. Levels of deforestation have spiked since September, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD) visualized on Global Forest Watch. The dry months of September and October are normally peak season for slash-and-burn, and sources say the clearing is especially severe this year due to economic pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tsaratanana Reserve encompasses dense, unique rainforest. Image from the public domain. Experts say the forests are being burned and cleared primarily to make space for fields of marijuana, vanilla, and rice. The scale of the biodiversity loss is immeasurable, conservationists add. Many of the forest areas are so remote that their flora and fauna have not yet been surveyed. “[This] is a loss for everyone,” Brian Fisher, an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences who has worked in the region, told Mongabay after looking at satellite images that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/a-madagascar-forest-long-protected-by-its-remoteness-is-now-threatened-by-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/a-madagascar-forest-long-protected-by-its-remoteness-is-now-threatened-by-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As minister and activists trade barbs, Madagascar’s forests burn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/as-minister-and-activists-trade-barbs-madagascars-forests-burn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/as-minister-and-activists-trade-barbs-madagascars-forests-burn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2020 09:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/16093644/madagascar_190855-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237910</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, data, Deforestation, Fires, Lemurs, Molluscs, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Sustainable Forest Management, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A long and intense fire season is exacting a grim toll across Madagascar. At its onset in May, a wave of fires ate into the dry forests that line the island’s western coast, one of the world&#8217;s most threatened biomes. In the past two months, the rainforests fringing the eastern coast have gone up in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A long and intense fire season is exacting a grim toll across Madagascar. At its onset in May, a wave of fires ate into the dry forests that line the island’s western coast, one of the world&#8217;s most threatened biomes. In the past two months, the rainforests fringing the eastern coast have gone up in flames. &#8220;This year, the fire points in Madagascar are very numerous bush fires, forest fires, urban fires,&#8221; said Haingosoa Hortençia, a national coordinator for the Green Party, who until recently worked at the environment ministry, or MEDD. “There are fires all over the twenty-two regions of Madagascar.” An interactive map from Global Forest Watch displaying fire alerts recorded by NASA satellites from September 1 to December 1 this year. In the period from May to November, 50,000 more fire alerts were recorded this year compared to last year, a 17% rise, as per NASA satellite data analyzed by the forest mapping platform Global Forest Watch (GFW). In the past three months alone Madagascar has reported nearly 200,000 fire alerts. Hortençia blamed the environment minister&#8217;s &#8220;negligence, ignorance and bad governance,&#8221; for the situation, saying they should have had a longer-term strategy to fight the fires and been more responsive to reports from the ground. The minister contests these claims. Fire alerts recorded by NASA satellites from May 1 to Aug 1. 2020/ Global Forest Watch. Fire alerts recorded by NASA satellites from September 1 to December 1. 2020/ Global Forest Watch. One could fit 16 Madagascar-sized&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/as-minister-and-activists-trade-barbs-madagascars-forests-burn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/as-minister-and-activists-trade-barbs-madagascars-forests-burn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237910</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bug bites: Edible insect production ramps up quickly in Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/bug-bites-edible-insect-production-ramps-up-quickly-in-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/bug-bites-edible-insect-production-ramps-up-quickly-in-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Nov 2020 15:38:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emilie Filou]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/10232653/EFilou_MadaInsects_8_Aside-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237013</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative proteins, Animals, Bushmeat, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Forests, Hunting, Insects, Lemurs, Mammals, Over-hunting, Poverty, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two years ago, the villagers of Ambodifohara on the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar knew nothing about sakondry, a small hopping insect, except that it was tasty. Locals would collect it when they came across it, and that was that. A chance forest snack. Fast-forward to late 2020, and the insect is now a staple. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two years ago, the villagers of Ambodifohara on the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar knew nothing about sakondry, a small hopping insect, except that it was tasty. Locals would collect it when they came across it, and that was that. A chance forest snack. Fast-forward to late 2020, and the insect is now a staple. “We eat sakondry regularly, almost every day during high season,” says BeNoel Razafindrapaoly, a resident. This change of status is the outcome of the Sakondry program, which Cortni Borgerson, an anthropologist at Montclair State University in New Jersey, developed in collaboration with the IUCN Save Our Species initiative. The idea was to see whether farming the insect, and therefore increasing its consumption, could halt biodiversity loss and reduce malnutrition. A woman cooks sakondry for sale. Image by by Cortni Borgerson. “When you ask people why they are hunting [lemurs], the number one reason is: ‘it’s there and it’s easy to catch,’” Borgerson says. “If you just tell people not to hunt something, you increase food insecurity.” To get people to stop hunting lemurs, Borgerson says they needed to find a replacement that fills the same cultural role as lemur meat. “Sakondry does just that. Both sakondry and lemurs are wild &#8216;natural&#8217; foods, which are fatty, clean, cheap, peak in availability during seasons of low food security, and are traditionally eaten and tied to local identity.” Borgerson says that the idea of farming sakondry (Zanna tenebrosa) came from the villagers themselves. “When we asked what meats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/bug-bites-edible-insect-production-ramps-up-quickly-in-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/bug-bites-edible-insect-production-ramps-up-quickly-in-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237013</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Podcast: Lemur love and award-winning plant passion in Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/podcast-lemur-love-and-award-winning-plant-passion-in-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/podcast-lemur-love-and-award-winning-plant-passion-in-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2020 17:35:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/11145320/Indri_Indri_indri_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236751</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bioacoustics, Botany, Bushmeat, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Lemurs, Mammals, Plants, Primates, Protected Areas, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is known for its lemurs, and we’ve got some recordings of Madagascar’s most famous fauna to listen to on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. But today we’re looking at conservation of the island nation’s fauna and flora. Listen here: &#160; Protected areas in Madagascar have tended to focus on ecotourism and preserving fauna, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is known for its lemurs, and we’ve got some recordings of Madagascar’s most famous fauna to listen to on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. But today we’re looking at conservation of the island nation’s fauna and flora. Listen here: &nbsp; Protected areas in Madagascar have tended to focus on ecotourism and preserving fauna, especially the lemurs for which Madagascar is most closely identified. Plants haven’t typically been taken into account when designing the country’s protected areas, even though, according to the US-based Missouri Botanical Garden, more than half of all plant species in Madagascar are facing the threat of extinction and many of those species are endemics that are found nowhere else on Earth. Thanks to Jeannie Raharimampionona, a botanist with the Missouri Botanical Garden who recently won the National Geographic/Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation in Africa (which also earned her the title of National Geographic Explorer), Madagascar’s rich biodiversity of plant life is finally getting the protections it needs. Raharimampionana joins us to discuss the 11 — but soon to be 12 — protected areas that her work has helped to establish, and her hopes to establish protections for all of the 80 priority areas she has identified. We also speak with Valeria Torti, a research technician at Italy’s University of Turin whose work is focused on critically endangered indri lemurs (Indri indri) in the protected forests of Madagascar’s Maromizaha region. Torti tells us about the threats indris are facing and plays for us a number of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/podcast-lemur-love-and-award-winning-plant-passion-in-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/podcast-lemur-love-and-award-winning-plant-passion-in-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236751</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lemurs might never recover from COVID-19 (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/lemurs-might-never-recover-from-covid-19-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/lemurs-might-never-recover-from-covid-19-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2020 15:41:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/30143750/coquerels-sifaka-kissing-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236391</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Lemurs, Primates, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The DreamWorks version of Madagascar is exactly that, a fantasy. The island nation is no unpeopled paradise teeming with dancing lemurs, as depicted in the animated Madagascar film. On the contrary, almost all of its lemur species are being driven to extinction by humans. This World Lemur&#8217;s Day, it is worth pointing out that the Covid-19 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The DreamWorks version of Madagascar is exactly that, a fantasy. The island nation is no unpeopled paradise teeming with dancing lemurs, as depicted in the animated Madagascar film. On the contrary, almost all of its lemur species are being driven to extinction by humans. This World Lemur&#8217;s Day, it is worth pointing out that the Covid-19 pandemic poses a threat to our primate cousins as well. Lemur conservation work in Madagascar can be traced back several decades, but was still in its nascency in 1986, when American primatologist Patricia Wright traveled to southeastern Madagascar in search of a ghost, an animal long believed to be extinct: the greater bamboo lemur. She found it, and she found a fight worth fighting: saving the island&#8217;s endemic lemurs. When Wright told residents there that she wanted to create a park that would attract plane-loads of tourists, they laughed. Lemurs are central to Malagasy culture, but the idea that people would travel thousands of kilometers to catch a glimpse of them was laughable. Wright proved them wrong. Over three decades, she worked with locals to build a national park in one of the world&#8217;s most impoverished countries, where three out of four people live on less than $1.90 a day. Founded in 1991, Ranomafana National Park has over the years become one of the island’s most-visited attractions. Then Covid-19 hit. Overnight, foreign visitors disappeared, and so did income. Ranomafana is not alone; parks across Africa saw revenues plummet as countries clamped borders shut and imposed lockdowns in response to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/lemurs-might-never-recover-from-covid-19-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/lemurs-might-never-recover-from-covid-19-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236391</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Say hello to Madagascar’s newest mouse lemur, a pint-sized primate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2020 12:07:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/03150645/Jonahs-mouse-lemur-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233316</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Genetics, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Lemurs, Primates, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Species, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When searching for mouse lemurs in Madagascar&#8217;s forests, scientists seek out their gleaming eyes in the dark. Their eyes are large for an animal about the size of a fist and no heavier than a tennis ball. Mouse lemurs are shy and nocturnal, and unlike in the movie named for the island, they’re generally not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When searching for mouse lemurs in Madagascar&#8217;s forests, scientists seek out their gleaming eyes in the dark. Their eyes are large for an animal about the size of a fist and no heavier than a tennis ball. Mouse lemurs are shy and nocturnal, and unlike in the movie named for the island, they’re generally not boisterous dancers who like to “move it.” Now, a new species of mouse lemur, considered the tiniest primates in the world, has revealed itself to scientists: Microcebus jonahi. Ute Radespiel at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany has studied these elusive creatures for 25 years. A team led by her and Dominik Schüßler at the University of Hildesheim named the lemur for prominent Malagasy primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy, who has dedicated his life to studying and protecting Madagascar&#8217;s endemic lemurs. Malagasy primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy. Image courtesy: Jonah Ratsimbazafy. Keeping lemurs, all 108 known species of them, from the abyss of extinction is a mammoth undertaking. Almost all lemurs are at risk of dying out, and a third are already critically endangered, according to the IUCN. A cousin of the newly discovered M. jonahi — Madame Berthe&#8217;s mouse lemur (M. berthae), the world’s smallest primate — is one step away from extinction. M.jonahi may be staring at the same fate. &#8220;Although the Jonah&#8217;s mouse lemur has only just been scientifically described, it is unfortunately already in danger of extinction,&#8221; Radespiel said. It’s a worry echoed by other scientists who fear some of Madagascar&#8217;s unique flora and fauna will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/say-hello-to-madagascars-newest-mouse-lemur-a-pint-sized-primate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Endangered and endemic: Madagascar’s lemurs susceptible to coronavirus infection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/endangered-and-endemic-madagascars-lemurs-susceptible-to-coronavirus-infection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/endangered-and-endemic-madagascars-lemurs-susceptible-to-coronavirus-infection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2020 09:37:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/31093342/madagascar_ankarafantsika_0657-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233263</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, COVID-19, Endangered Species, Environment, Lemurs, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — The possibility of lemurs contracting COVID-19 is worrying Madagascar&#8217;s scientific and conservation community. Members sounded the alarm in the days following the country’s state of health emergency declaration in March, setting up an emergency unit designed to strengthen the protection of these animals, which are national emblems. As of July 31, Madagascar [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — The possibility of lemurs contracting COVID-19 is worrying Madagascar&#8217;s scientific and conservation community. Members sounded the alarm in the days following the country’s state of health emergency declaration in March, setting up an emergency unit designed to strengthen the protection of these animals, which are national emblems. As of July 31, Madagascar has confirmed 10,868 human cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths. An April 2020 study preprinted online prior to peer review shows that the protein and genetic structure of the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptors in certain species of lemurs is very similar to that of humans. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, binds to this enzyme to infect host cells. Visitors and lemurs in Reniala Private Reserve in Mahajanga, in northwestern Madagascar. Image by Rivonala Razafison. Susceptibility by species There are 107 lemur species, and they live almost exclusively in Madagascar. As of this month, the IUCN Red List now classifies 103 of them, 96%, as threatened with extinction; of these, 33, or almost 31%, are critically endangered. The resemblance between lemurs&#8217; ACE2 receptor and those in humans varies by species. For example, according to the April study, the largest lemur, the indri (Indri indri), the blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons), and the Coquerel&#8217;s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) have a very similar receptor to that of humans. All three species are critically endangered. According to Fidisoa Rasambainarivo, a conservation medicine expert at Mahaliana, a wildlife laboratory and research center in Antananarivo, this means that if these species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/endangered-and-endemic-madagascars-lemurs-susceptible-to-coronavirus-infection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/endangered-and-endemic-madagascars-lemurs-susceptible-to-coronavirus-infection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233263</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A third of Madagascar&#8217;s lemur species on the brink of extinction, IUCN warns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/a-third-of-madagascars-lemur-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction-iucn-warns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/a-third-of-madagascars-lemur-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction-iucn-warns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2020 08:27:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/10075535/Coquerels-sifaka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232338</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Lemurs, Mammals, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Human actions have pushed 13 more lemur species, the iconic primates native to Madagascar, to the brink of extinction, according to an update to the list of the world’s threatened species. Those now in the critically endangered category of the IUCN Red List include the tiniest primate in the world, the Madame Berthe&#8217;s mouse lemur [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Human actions have pushed 13 more lemur species, the iconic primates native to Madagascar, to the brink of extinction, according to an update to the list of the world’s threatened species. Those now in the critically endangered category of the IUCN Red List include the tiniest primate in the world, the Madame Berthe&#8217;s mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae), and the Verreaux&#8217;s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), a creature known for its sideways hop that gives the impression it is dancing. The bad news does not end there for primates, a group of mammals that includes humans. Half of the primate species of Africa are under threat, including the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), the largest living primate. These majestic mammals are found only in Africa. &#8220;This IUCN Red List update exposes the true scale of threats faced by primates across Africa. It also shows that Homo sapiens needs to drastically change its relationship to other primates, and to nature as a whole,&#8221; Grethel Aguilar, the IUCN’s acting director-general, said in a statement. Lying off the eastern coast of Africa, Madagascar boasts unparalleled biological diversity, with somewhere between 80% and 90% of its plants and animals found nowhere else on the planet. It separated from the African continental plate about 160 million years ago and then from the Indian landmass 90 million years ago, making it the oldest island in the world. Almost all of the 107 species of lemurs are endangered. One of the main reasons for the disappearance of these charismatic mammals is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/a-third-of-madagascars-lemur-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction-iucn-warns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/a-third-of-madagascars-lemur-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction-iucn-warns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232338</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Madagascar’s dry forests, COVID-19 sparks an intense, early fire season</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/in-madagascars-dry-forests-covid-19-sparks-an-intense-early-fire-season/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/in-madagascars-dry-forests-covid-19-sparks-an-intense-early-fire-season/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2020 02:59:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/24034846/GrandeTsingy_Wikimedia-CC-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231737</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity Hotspots, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Dry Forests, Fires, Forests, Lemurs, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The barbed terrain forged by the tsingy topography in western Madagascar has, for millions of years, sheltered the dry forests that grow between the limestone spires. This year, even before the fire season is upon the island nation, blazes are burning inside Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, which encases this geomorphological wonderland. Usually, the fires, lit to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The barbed terrain forged by the tsingy topography in western Madagascar has, for millions of years, sheltered the dry forests that grow between the limestone spires. This year, even before the fire season is upon the island nation, blazes are burning inside Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, which encases this geomorphological wonderland. Usually, the fires, lit to clear cropland and create pasture, begin in June and peak in October, before the start of the rainy season. This year is anything but usual, with the fires burning earlier and more intensely, a ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2019, the environment ministry recorded a total of 19,784 fire points, but this May the number was up to 32,565. Of these, 2,752 were inside forested areas, compared to 1,890 last year. “We detected more fire points than last year, surrounding Bemaraha in particular, and in the [protected area] network globally,” said Mamy Rakotoarijaona, director-general of Madagascar National Parks. This quasi-governmental agency manages Tsingy de Bemahara and 42 other protected areas. Foreign and domestic NGOs and local communities help manage Madagascar’s 144 protected areas. “Our preliminary results show clearly that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the protected areas in Madagascar and the human pressures have increased,” said Johanna Eklund, a researcher at the Digital Geography Lab of the University of Helsinki. “It is clear that the protected areas in the Western dry forests of Madagascar are the most affected so far.” The country reported its first COVID-19 case on March 20 and announced a series of measures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/in-madagascars-dry-forests-covid-19-sparks-an-intense-early-fire-season/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/in-madagascars-dry-forests-covid-19-sparks-an-intense-early-fire-season/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231737</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One-two punch of drought, pandemic hits Madagascar’s poor and its wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/one-two-punch-of-drought-pandemic-hits-madagascars-poor-and-its-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/one-two-punch-of-drought-pandemic-hits-madagascars-poor-and-its-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2020 04:50:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/11133509/10714201_789980801024940_7342413764701086669_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231337</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Indian Ocean, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bushmeat, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, Drought, Impact Of Climate Change, Lemurs, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With just over 1,200 cases and ten deaths, it may appear that Madagascar has been spared the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the deep south of the country, the crisis is casting a shadow of despair over a drought-stricken land, pushing people deeper into destitution. The island nation of 27 million people, off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With just over 1,200 cases and ten deaths, it may appear that Madagascar has been spared the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the deep south of the country, the crisis is casting a shadow of despair over a drought-stricken land, pushing people deeper into destitution. The island nation of 27 million people, off the coast of southern Africa, is one of the poorest in the world, where three out of four people live on less than $2 a day. Now, after several years of incremental decline, poverty will rise in Madagascar because of the economic fallout from the pandemic, according to World Bank estimates released earlier this month. A view of Efoetsy village that abuts Tsimanampesotse National Park in southwestern Madagascar. Image courtesy of Marni Lafleur/ Lemur Love Although the evidence remains inconclusive, the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated in wildlife. Many experts say human incursions into the natural world are responsible for the increasing frequency with which zoonotic diseases are entering human populations. In parts of Madagascar, the disease and its disruptions may force people to lean even more heavily on nature; to chop down trees and consume more wild meat to survive. The Malagasy economy was in bad shape after a political coup in 2009, which brought the current president to power for the first time. This year could be worse: World Bank data suggest the country may be plunging into recession. Madagascar reported its first cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/one-two-punch-of-drought-pandemic-hits-madagascars-poor-and-its-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/one-two-punch-of-drought-pandemic-hits-madagascars-poor-and-its-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231337</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Marijuana cultivation whittling away Madagascar’s largest connected forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/marijuana-cultivation-whittling-away-madagascars-largest-connected-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/marijuana-cultivation-whittling-away-madagascars-largest-connected-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2020 18:48:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/29175657/madagascar_nosy_komba_0171-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230846</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Slash-and-burn, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak, has long been a key link in the chain, with abundant primary forest mostly undisturbed by human activity. Yet the reserve now faces threats on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak, has long been a key link in the chain, with abundant primary forest mostly undisturbed by human activity. Yet the reserve now faces threats on an unprecedented scale. Primary and secondary forest in Tsaratanana Reserve is being cleared at a rapid rate, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland visualized on Global Forest Watch (GFW). Local officials say slash-and-burn agriculture for marijuana cultivation is to blame. Scientists say that if this deforestation continues, it will fragment the reserve’s well-connected forests and threaten the animals that live there — many of which are endemic, which means they’re found nowhere else in the world. Satellite data show the area comprising Tsaratanana has been experiencing heavy deforestation over the past two decades, with forest loss bleeding well into the reserve. While mostly occurring in lowland areas of the reserve, data and imagery show that deforestation appears to be expanding towards the higher reaches. Source: Hansen/GLAD/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, accessed through Global Forest Watch. Satellite imagery shows recent re-clearing of areas cleared in 2019. Some of these clearings appear to be expanding into primary forest. Source: Planet Labs/Sentinel 2. Although most cultivation is being done in lowland areas, clearing also appears to be affecting some areas of higher elevation. Source: Planet Labs. Satellite imagery shows what appear to be fires burning on mountaintops in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/marijuana-cultivation-whittling-away-madagascars-largest-connected-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/marijuana-cultivation-whittling-away-madagascars-largest-connected-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230846</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>