The Declining Lemur Population in Madagascar
During the summer of 2018, while I was in North Carolina, I visited the Duke Lemur Center, which houses the world's largest and most diverse collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar. While I was there, I learned many interesting facts about lemurs and got to see a few of them for myself. I was stunned by the wide variety of lemur species the center had and how each species has very distinctive traits, including different vocal sounds, mating rituals, eye colors, or tail types.
For those who do not know much about lemurs, here is a bit of basic background info. Lemurs are prosimians, a specific suborder of primates (the other type of primate is anthropoids, which include monkeys and apes). In the majority of lemur species, females are dominant (girl power!), so they are in charge of defending their families, choosing their mate, and a variety of other responsibilities. Lemurs can be diurnal or nocturnal; however, most of the lemurs living outside of Madagascar (where they are endemic and most prevalent) are nocturnal, which helps prevent them from getting out-competed or killed by day-time active monkeys, apes, or other predators.
Probably the most important fact about lemurs is that they are pretty much all considered to be endangered species. The significant decrease in lemur populations has a variety of causes, but the main culprits are humans. Human-caused climate change has resulted in significant reduction of the lemurs' habitats, which are mostly the forests on Madagascar. Humans have also caused habitat reduction due to their actions on the island of Madagascar itself. Most of the original forest cover has disappeared since humans have arrived on the island. The shrinking forest cover is a result of many of the slash and burn agricultural tactics used by the Malagasy* people. By cutting and burning trees in order to farm, the Malagasy people quickly destroy lemur habitats, making it much harder for the lemurs to survive. Plus, as the forests are continually encroached upon and reduced by humans, many of the forest corridors connecting neighboring forests to each other have been destroyed, thus making it impossible for the lemurs (which typically travel through the trees) to escape to the next forest if their current home is destroyed. Another reason the lemur populations are endangered is because of subsistence farming. Many Malagasy people are unable to meet their protein requirement, so they hunt lemurs for food even though lemurs are technically protected under Malagasy law.
* relating to Madagascar or its people or language
After I heard about how dire the lemur situation is in Madagascar, I researched more and more about the problem. Because the lemur situation is very precarious, people must take action to protect these highly endangered animals by raising awareness of the problem and organizing support for the lemurs. It is important for conservationists and the government of Madagascar to work together to protect the forest corridors and establish new ones (in order to allow lemurs to flee from their habitat if humans ruin it and to promote more forest growth). Also, people must continue to create lemur conservation projects centered around improving the lives of people living in rural Madagascar in order to help protect the remaining forests and lemur populations. By showing the rural Malagasy people new methods of finding food or making money, like managing fish farms instead of solely basing their income on rice agriculture (which requires much more land and usually results in forests being destroyed in order to obtain said land), they will hopefully stop hunting lemurs for protein and stop cutting down/burning trees for more farmland.
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For more information about lemurs, consult these websites:
http://www.wildmadagascar.org/wildlife/lemurs.html
http://www.pbs.org/edens/madagascar/creature2.htm
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150226-what-hope-is-there-for-madagascars-threatened-lemurs
https://lemur.duke.edu/
For those who do not know much about lemurs, here is a bit of basic background info. Lemurs are prosimians, a specific suborder of primates (the other type of primate is anthropoids, which include monkeys and apes). In the majority of lemur species, females are dominant (girl power!), so they are in charge of defending their families, choosing their mate, and a variety of other responsibilities. Lemurs can be diurnal or nocturnal; however, most of the lemurs living outside of Madagascar (where they are endemic and most prevalent) are nocturnal, which helps prevent them from getting out-competed or killed by day-time active monkeys, apes, or other predators.
Probably the most important fact about lemurs is that they are pretty much all considered to be endangered species. The significant decrease in lemur populations has a variety of causes, but the main culprits are humans. Human-caused climate change has resulted in significant reduction of the lemurs' habitats, which are mostly the forests on Madagascar. Humans have also caused habitat reduction due to their actions on the island of Madagascar itself. Most of the original forest cover has disappeared since humans have arrived on the island. The shrinking forest cover is a result of many of the slash and burn agricultural tactics used by the Malagasy* people. By cutting and burning trees in order to farm, the Malagasy people quickly destroy lemur habitats, making it much harder for the lemurs to survive. Plus, as the forests are continually encroached upon and reduced by humans, many of the forest corridors connecting neighboring forests to each other have been destroyed, thus making it impossible for the lemurs (which typically travel through the trees) to escape to the next forest if their current home is destroyed. Another reason the lemur populations are endangered is because of subsistence farming. Many Malagasy people are unable to meet their protein requirement, so they hunt lemurs for food even though lemurs are technically protected under Malagasy law.
* relating to Madagascar or its people or language
After I heard about how dire the lemur situation is in Madagascar, I researched more and more about the problem. Because the lemur situation is very precarious, people must take action to protect these highly endangered animals by raising awareness of the problem and organizing support for the lemurs. It is important for conservationists and the government of Madagascar to work together to protect the forest corridors and establish new ones (in order to allow lemurs to flee from their habitat if humans ruin it and to promote more forest growth). Also, people must continue to create lemur conservation projects centered around improving the lives of people living in rural Madagascar in order to help protect the remaining forests and lemur populations. By showing the rural Malagasy people new methods of finding food or making money, like managing fish farms instead of solely basing their income on rice agriculture (which requires much more land and usually results in forests being destroyed in order to obtain said land), they will hopefully stop hunting lemurs for protein and stop cutting down/burning trees for more farmland.
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| Source: https://lemur.duke.edu/discover/meet-the-lemurs/ring-tailed-lemur/ |
For more information about lemurs, consult these websites:
http://www.wildmadagascar.org/wildlife/lemurs.html
http://www.pbs.org/edens/madagascar/creature2.htm
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150226-what-hope-is-there-for-madagascars-threatened-lemurs
https://lemur.duke.edu/
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