Tag Archives | Member Update

Awww... isn't he cute? Photo by Lynne Venart.

A Visit to the Lemur Conservation Foundation’s Lemur Reserve

By Lynne Venart on April 19, 2016

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Lemur Conservation Foundation’s lemur reserve in Myakka City, Florida. LCF’s Zoological Manager Caitlin Kenney spoke with me about their work at the reserve and in Madagascar, and introduced me to their seriously adorable—and cheeky—lemurs. In this blog post, I’ll share photos of the reserve and the lemurs it houses, discuss LCF’s history, and explain how this reserve is helping to preserve these endangered primates. In a later blog post, I speak with […]

Leading Conservation with Susie Louis from Conservation Fusion

By Kim Reuter on January 19, 2016

How did you get started working with lemurs and conservation in Madagascar? Since I was a little girl, I have always had a passion for animals, the environment, and wanting to make a difference. I worked at the Omaha Zoo for 13 years and it was during that time that I had the opportunity to work with lemurs in captivity as a zookeeper. Then, I transferred to the Conservation and Research center where I worked with lemur DNA and mentored […]

Putting trees back where they once were: Reforestation at Centre ValBio

By Lynne Venart on November 10, 2015

Reforestation is a Mainstay of Centre ValBio Reforestation at Centre ValBio has been a mainstay of the field station since its founding. Working with landowners in the periphery of the park, Centre ValBio has established reforestation plots on private land as well as a demonstration agroforestry plot which has vanilla vines growing on native trees for support. Using Trees Native to the Region The reforestation program only uses trees which are native to the region, the seeds for which are gathered from […]

Noting GPS Coordinates of the Sifaka Groups. Photo by Sabrina Szeto.

Tracking Sifakas in Ranomafana National Park

By Lynne Venart on September 1, 2015

My first week at Centre ValBio was spent getting acquainted with the trail system which I would later map using a GPS unit. I followed the team studying sifakas which consists of three experienced Malagasy field technicians, George Rene, Raleso and Remi, together with an American intern Katie and a Malagasy masters student Tahiry. We spent the week at trails in Talatakely and Vohiparara at Ranomafana National Park. We would leave at 7.30 AM in the morning with a […]

Lemur in Ranobe, Photo courtesy of Ho Avy

Ranobe: Madagascar’s Forgotten Forest

By Lynne Venart on August 4, 2015

About the Mikea Forest Region and Ranobe The Mikea forest region is home to eight species of lemurs – the highest diversity of lemurs of any forest in the Southwest region of Madagascar. However, the southern stretch of Mikea forest, known as P(oint ) K(ilometer) -32 Ranobe (the spring/oasis) has considerably more vertebrate species than either of the Southwest’s National Parks – Mikea and Tsimanampetsotsa – or the special reserve of Beza Mahafaly. Yet, despite its incredible ecological traits, as home to some of […]

Ihsane Lahlou of the Dahari organization.

Member update from Dahari

By Kim Reuter on June 10, 2015

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 […]