First, can you describe your background and research focus? As an African-American born and raised in California, I shouldn’t be in this field. I shouldn’t have watched NatGeo wildlife documentaries or gone camping or raised butterflies. Fortunately, I was exposed to the world of wildlife through my dad, who loved animals. But my exposure to wildlife was still limited. I got to college (NC State) and was highly disappointed to realize that studying wildlife wasn’t just following them around […]
Only for the Intrepid For the uninitiated Madagascar can be daunting. It’s large, busy, potentially dangerous, the roads are terrible and travelling the island solo requires both bravery and guile. Being on a tight time schedule (and being a wimp), my recent visit to the land of lemurs was with an organised tour group. This began and ended in Antananarivo with three national parks along the way and the promise of plenty of prosimians. First Up: Andasibe Andasibe is the […]
Mamy Razafitsalama developed his love for lemurs growing up in a small village on the East coast of Madagascar. Unfortunately unlike Mamy, many Malagasy people are unaware of the benefits lemurs have on healthy forest ecosystems. Local communities often burn their natural resources as a means of survival in the face of widespread poverty. They burn grasses to increase cattle grazing areas. This practice frequently leads to forest fires that destroy critical lemur habitat. Mamy leads conservation as Planet Madagascar’s […]
Teacher Robin Lee at the Ellis School in Fremont, New Hampshire, USA just finished a whole year of “Learning thru Lemurs” with her 6th grade language arts students! The students were inspired by lemurs and Madagascar all school year, reading and writing about conservation, the rainforest, and all of the amazing animals that call Madagascar home. They visited the zoo, made lemur stuffed animals, and integrated conservation words into their vocabulary lessons. Learn more about Robin Lee’s Learning thru Lemurs […]
How Daniella Started PLAY Where does education come in? Daniella Rabino, the driver behind PLAY, Protecting Life through Active Youth, asked this as a study abroad student in 2007. As an elementary education student, it seemed like education was left out as a central part of redefining relationships between state, NGO bodies, and local lives, to connect ideas across spaces. I started realizing that these issues were big and the intersections between fields were not really addressed in a way that […]
Studying lemurs in the Comoros with the NGO Dahari I am Ihsane Lahlou a researcher in ecology and conservation. I started my career in France and Togo before joining the team of the Comorian NGO Dahari in 2014 to work on conservation programs, particularly on the Livingstone fruit bat. At Dahari, we are currently working on a participatory conservation program of this fruit bat and we also ensure the annual monitoring of the species. In parallel, we are working on […]
When did you first get interested in working in Madagascar and what motivated you to undertake this work? I began studying ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) in 1987, after a trip to Madagascar in 1984. Hardly anyone was studying lemurs at that time, because Madagascar had been closed to foreign researchers in the 1970s and early 80s. Lemurs have always been completely fascinating to me. What projects are you currently working on that relate to lemurs or environmental conservation? Most recently, I and […]
Written by Zobomafoo fan, Carmen In Madagascar, sunlight filters gently through the leaves of baobab trees and wild vanilla, creating a dappled pattern of light on the forest floor. Bugs crawl among the roots and fallen leaves, exotic birds sing, and overhead, calls of “shif-auk!” bounce between the trees. High above the ground, a family of coquerel’s sifaka lives peacefully. They groom one another, browse for leaves, bark, flowers, and fruit, and softly “talk” to each other during the day, […]
