Unusual animals of Madagascar. Animals of Madagascar: the unique fauna of the island Pets of Madagascar

Indri monkeys are relatives of lemurs. Another name for this species of primate is babakoto. Funny name, isn't it?

In the local language, the name “indri” means “here he is.” May be. This monkey looks so amazing that when people noticed it, they tried to show it to each other?

These monkeys are the largest among the representatives of the infraorder of lemurs living in Madagascar. Indris belong to the order of primates, the Indriidae family. Let's try to find out more about these lemurs.

Appearance of babakoto

Indri monkeys can weigh up to 9.5 kilograms. The body length of the animal is from 64 to 90 centimeters. This is not so little for a monkey.

The indri has a short tail. The limbs are different: the hind limbs are much longer than the front ones. Depending on the area of ​​residence, coat color may vary. But the main colors are gray, white and black. Often, a light triangle stands out on the back of a babakoto. The fur on the head and back is black. There is no fur on the face at all.

Indri habitats

Babacoto live on the island of Madagascar. They are mainly found in the northeastern region.

Indri lifestyle and nutrition

These lemurs prefer rain forests. There they can live up to an altitude of 1800 meters above sea level. But the Indris love the lowlands more.

The main part of the babakoto's life is spent in trees. These animals have almost no need to descend to the ground. And why would they do this? After all, trees have everything they need to live.

Babacoto move spasmodically, both on the ground and along branches, for this nature provided them with long hind limbs.

Indris are more active during daylight hours. At night, they can leave their roost only if the weather in the forest is bad, or if they are being pursued by a predator. During the day, indris bask under the warm Madagascar sun, lounging on a tree branch.

The social structure is such that these monkeys form small groups to live together. In such a community there are no more than five individuals. As a rule, the members of the group are a female with a male and their babies. In this family, the female is considered the main one, and the male is assigned a secondary role.

Another distinctive feature of the Babakoto monkey is its loud singing. She loves to sing her songs throughout the forest, especially in the morning. Sometimes such “concerts” are heard in the forest a couple of kilometers from the place where the “singer” is located.

Babacoto's diet consists of plant foods. These primates feast on ripe fruits, leaves, and flower petals. Sometimes, to prevent poisoning from poisonous leaves, indris swallow a handful of earth, which absorbs all the toxins in the body.

Reproduction

The pregnancy of a female babakoto lasts about five months. After which one baby is born. For the first six months, the baby eats only mother's milk. After weaning and living for a couple more months, the young indri becomes independent. Puberty in young animals occurs at seven to nine years of age.

Among the features of the Babakoto relationship, researchers note exceptional fidelity to each other in a couple.

Separated from Africa approximately 160 million years ago, and then from India (about 65-70 million years ago), Madagascar is known as a habitat for rare animals. Thanks to the unique conditions in Madagascar, species that are extinct in all other parts of the world live and develop.

In 1500, the Portuguese navigator Diego Dias and his flotilla were heading to India, but as a result of a storm they lost their course. This is how a unique tropical island in the Indian Ocean was discovered. The island of Madagascar is truly exotic, wild nature with the ocean, mountains, and jungle. On the island you can see unique geysers, many waterfalls, beautiful lakes formed in the craters of extinct volcanoes.

2.

The nature of the island of Madagascar is unique. Only here is the kingdom of lemurs, which has several dozen species. Lemurs are a symbol of the island and a national treasure. The ancestors of monkeys - lemurs - are trusting, shy and peaceful. As a result of their nocturnal lifestyle, their eyes became very large. Lemur sizes range from the mouse lemur to the giant megalodapis, which reaches the size of a gorilla.

The most popular representative of lemurs is the kata ring-tailed lemur. They have a striped black and white tail and are about the size of a house cat. Kata live in packs in which females dominate. It is an indisputable fact that matriarchy in Madagascar extends to the inhabitants of the island.

The indigenous people of Madagascar believe in mysticism. They believe that the souls of dead people become lemurs. That is why lemurs are treated with reverence and care - it is believed that by killing a lemur, you can destroy the personification of your relatives. According to the customs of the local population, each tree and lake has its own name, meaning, meaning and strength. Near sacred places - and this could be any body of water, tree or clearing - very strict rules apply: do not eat pork and do not appear to women in trousers.

Up to 80% of the fauna is unique; many species of animals are not found anywhere else on the planet. These include the largest butterflies in the world, various chameleons and green monkeys.

The rainiest part of the island of lemurs is the eastern part, which is overgrown with dense tropical forests and filled with millions of beautiful insects and birds. The most beautiful butterfly, the Madagascar urania, lives here. Its wingspan is more than 10 centimeters; you can admire it at any time of the year. Unfortunately, as a result of deforestation to heat the population, many animals lose their home and are threatened with destruction.

8.

9.

In Madagascar, more than 615 new species of wild animals were recorded by the World Wildlife Fund between 1999 and 2010. However, many of these species are in danger of extinction due to deforestation, the capture of rare animals for subsequent sale, and other factors. These animals include the mouse lemur, which was discovered on the island in 2000. These lemurs are no more than 27 cm long from head to tail tip, and they are considered the smallest primates.

10.

A species of unusual colored chameleon, Furcifer timoni, was discovered in remote forests in northern Madagascar in 2009. Both male and female individuals acquired unusual colors during the mutation process. Scientists say the discovery of this distinctly new species is surprising as these areas have been carefully and regularly surveyed for the presence of reptiles for many years.

The frog Boophis bottae is one of 69 species of amphibians discovered in Madagascar over the past 11 years. The diversity of amphibians on the island is amazing. Recently, the number of amphibians in the wild has decreased significantly, and disturbance of their habitat could harm many more animals than previously thought.

In 1992, only two species of mouse lemurs were known. Since then, the number has increased to fifteen, including Berthe’s mouse, which is captured in the photo. Great diversity can be observed even within a single species. Scientists examined 70 individuals of these mammals with different coat colors and found that they were all representatives of the same species, simply living in different parts of the island.

A female chameleon of the Furcifer timoni species shows us its bright, rich color. Eleven new chameleon species have been discovered in Madagascar since 1999.

This species of chameleon, known as Calumma tarzan, was discovered in 2010 in central and eastern Madagascar. It was named in honor of the village, which is located near the habitat of this chameleon, as well as in honor of the notorious Tarzan, the hero of the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. "We named this species 'Tarzan' with the hope that this well-known name would bring the public's attention to a truly endangered species and its range."

The frog species Gephyromantis tschenki was first discovered in 2001. It can be seen in natural reserves and the National Park of Madagascar.

It is clear why this species hid from the watchful eye of scientists for so long. The gecko, whose skin resembles tree bark and whose tail resembles a dry leaf, was discovered by scientists in 2003 in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar. He likes to climb trees with thick branches covered with bark and cling to broad-leaved plants. Thanks to its excellent natural camouflage, it remains virtually unnoticed.

18. Chameleon Furcifer timoni

The spotted Madagascar rainbowfish, known as Bedotia marojejy, was first discovered in the island's rivers in 2000. WWF scientists discovered 17 new fish species on the island between 1999 and 2010.

19.

Nick Garbutt, 46, from Cumbria, has made 25 trips deep into the forests of Madagascar. He has visited the island every year since 1991. Over two decades, Nick has created an extraordinary collection of photographic photographs of unusual and colorful species of the island.

20. Nick Garbutt with an orphaned ring-tailed lemur near Tsimanampetsotsa National Park in November 2009.

21. An adult female fossa (Crytoprocta ferox) hunts prey in the forest at Kirindy Park in western Madagascar.

22. A male comet moth (Argema mittrei) dries its wings in the forest in Mantadia National Park.

23. Male spear-nosed chameleon (Calumma Gallus) in the lowland rainforest near Mantadia, eastern Madagascar.

“When I first visited Madagascar, there were only two national parks,” says Nick. “The number has now grown to 20, and they serve as a refuge for animals, where cutting trees is illegal, but in practice this does not always work.”

24. An adult black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia Variegata) hangs on a branch in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, eastern Madagascar.

25. An adult male fossa wanders through a deciduous forest, western Madagascar.

26. During his fascinating travels, Nick also photographed a strange aye-aye. Having a long middle finger, it is able to rummage in the bark of a tree like a “fish” in water, looking for larvae and cutworms there.

27. Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) bask in the sun at dawn, Berenty Private Reserve, southern Madagascar.

28. Dwarf stump-tailed chameleon (Brookesia peyrierasi) on a finger in the Nosy Mangabe nature reserve, northeast Madagascar.

29. Male giraffe-necked weevil (Trachelophorus Giraffa) in the Vohiparara rainforest, Ranomafana National Park.

30. A leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) climbs a tree trunk in Nosy Mangabe Park, northeast Madagascar.

31. Painted mantella frog (Mantella madagascariensis) in Mantadia National Park, eastern Madagascar.

32. A male panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) searches for prey in the vegetation on the beach of the peninsula in Masoala National Park, northeastern Madagascar.

33. Amazing bird Helmet Vanga (Euryceros prevostii) near its nest in N.P. Masoala, in northeast Madagascar.

34. Male x Parson's ameleon (Calumma parsonii) in the rainforest, Masoala National Park.

35. A white-lipped tree frog (Boophis albilabris) sits in the rainforest of Ranomafana National Park, southeast Madagascar.

Although the number of national parks on the island is growing, environmentalists fear that this is not enough to save many of the animals.

Madagascar, located in East Africa, is home to various rare animals. Many of them are on the verge of extinction. Some of Madagascar's inhabitants have been immortalized in a cartoon of the same name, but the island's nature is far more diverse and amazing than any computer animation.

The Madagascar leaf-tailed gecko has to be seen to be believed, but it's not that easy. They are masters of camouflage, each gecko has its own unique way of blending in with its surroundings: some can be mistaken for leaves, some for tree bark. Their color and reflective body make them almost invisible. There are 10 species of leaf-tailed geckos, all of which are found in Madagascar and surrounding islands. The largest of them is Uroplatus giganteus.



Argemma mittrei, also known as the Madagascar comet, is the largest butterfly in the peacock eye family. Their colorful wingspan can reach 20 cm, and their tail can grow up to 15 cm in length. Butterflies do not feed and live off the nutrients accumulated in the caterpillar stage. Life expectancy is 4-5 days. They are capable of reproducing on the first day after emerging from the cocoon; females can lay up to 170 eggs at a time. The caterpillars feed on fresh eucalyptus leaves; pupation lasts from 2 to 6 monthsa



The tomato frog is an ambush predator found only in the northern, wetter part of Madagascar. They mainly feed on insects. Although they are frogs, they also have some features inherent in toads: the absence of webbed feet; When they are threatened, they, like toads, secrete a sticky whitish secretion from their skin. Only females have a characteristic color, which gave the name to this species. Males are light brown in color.



Aye-aye is an animal that is also found only in Madagascar. These nocturnal arboreal primates are well adapted to life in the trees thanks to their large, thin toes and tails longer than their bodies, allowing them to cling to tree branches. Remarkably, they are the only primates that use echolocation to find prey. With their thin middle fingers they knock on trees and hear the movement of insects, and then use the same finger to pull them out. Because of their strange appearance, the inhabitants of Madagascar consider them a symbol of misfortune and, like many other animal inhabitants of the island, they are on the verge of extinction



Marsh tenrecs are one of the most elusive animals in the world. They have only been found in Madascar and, since the largest tenrecs reach a length of 17 cm, they are difficult to spot. Several species of tenrecs live in Madagascar, but the swamp ones are distinguished by their ability to adapt to water conditions: their webbed feet allow them to swim excellently in the waters of eastern Madagascar. They feed on insects and tadpoles caught in the water.



Like other chameleons, the panther chameleon changes color depending on its condition, but these chameleons have a very wide range of color changes, especially in males during courtship. But these creatures are amazing not only because of their color. They can simultaneously rotate their eyes independently of each other to simultaneously follow two objects at once. Once they locate their prey, they focus both eyes on it before seizing it with their long, sticky tongue.



The Madagascar pochard is one of the rarest ducks in the world. These medium-sized birds feed on invertebrates, seeds and aquatic plants and are able to remain underwater for up to two minutes. Just recently, this species was considered extinct until 22 ducks were discovered on Lake Matsaborimena in 2006. Thanks to a conservation campaign launched in 2009, the population has quadrupled. Many ducks were raised in captivity and then released into the wild. However, they are still on the verge of extinction. Lake Matsaborimena is not the best habitat and there are concerns that there is too little food for all the ducks to survive.



This is not a cat or a dog, this is a fossa - one of the predators of Madagascar. Until recently, they were classified as members of the cat family, but in fact they belong to the mongoose family. It's no wonder that people have long been mistaken about their origins - all because of their strange appearance. With a dog-like snout and a cat-like body, this animal is one of the largest mammalian predators in Madagascar. Their length from the muzzle to the tip of the tail can reach up to 2 meters. The fossa is a nocturnal animal that mostly feeds on lemurs. They also eat reptiles, birds, and mammals. They are very mobile, their long tail allows them to maintain balance as they move from branch to branch. Unfortunately, they are very rare, people not only destroy them, but they also destroyed 90% of the habitat of these animals.



There are many snakes in Madagascar that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, but hardly any of them have such an amazing appearance as the Malagasy leaf snake. These snakes, which like to hang from tree branches, are distinguished by special nasal processes. Leaf-bearing snakes, unlike many others, have pronounced signs of sexual dimorphism. Nasal processes appear on them from birth and serve as a means of camouflage, since snakes usually attack from ambush. When snakes simply lie down, their nasal processes resemble the leaves of Madagascar trees, and the tree lizards they hunt do not immediately notice them. And when they notice, it's too late...



This web is 10 times stronger than Kevlar and twice as strong as any previously known web. This web of the Darwin spider can reach gigantic sizes - up to three square meters, and it is also found over rivers and lakes (about 25 square meters in size). This web was first discovered thanks to 30 insects caught in it, mainly butterflies. The unique strength, size and location of the web means it can be placed in places where no spider would survive, greatly reducing competition for food and space. Not bad for a spider, the female of which reaches 2.5 cm in length, and the male is even smaller.



Translated specifically for fishki.net

In the tropical zone of the southern hemisphere, where the Indian Ocean begins, is the island state of Madagascar, separated from southeast Africa by the Mozambique Channel.

This is one of the greatest islands on earth. In size it is second only to Greenland and New Guinea, and its area is almost 600 thousand km 2. The average width of the island is about 450 km, and the length of the island is almost 1700 km. The island's population is 22.6 million people and continues to grow. Most of the inhabitants of Madagascar are indigenous Malagasy. Also living on the island are the French, Indians, Chinese and Arabs. There are two official languages ​​on the island: Malagasy and French. Most of the island's inhabitants adhere to traditional beliefs, but Christianity is also widespread on the island. They are settled on the island in the local currency, Ariari, although the familiar dollars are also in circulation. The island's time zone is UTC+3.

Animal world

The fauna of Madagascar is diverse, but its originality can only be partially compared with that of Australia or Africa. This is a completely special zoogeographical region that cannot be found anywhere else. Many scientists suggest that Madagascar is a remnant of a once great continent that was located in what is now the Indian Ocean. The fauna of the mainland died along with it, and only those animals that were located on the territory of modern Madagascar survived. If this version is erroneous and Madagascar simply separated from the African continent, then this happened long before the current flora and fauna formed on African territory. It is according to one of these two versions that in Madagascar there are very few animals that are familiar to Africa. The island preserves ancient forms of animal life, such as lemurs, insectivores, and various types of chameleons.

Lemurs. These animals are also called “semi-monkeys”. They can only be found in the forests of Madagascar and mainly at night. During the day they sleep in tree hollows. At least four species of lemurs are common on the island: Madagascar common, indi, maki and aye-aye. They are all similar in appearance and differ only in the size of the body, the length of the tail, color, habits and the sounds they make.

Of the predators on the island, they are ubiquitous ferret cats, which have been terrifying local residents for hundreds of years, destroying domestic animals and birds. The animal is famous for its bloodthirstiness. The ferret cat has short legs and a dog-like body.

A shy animal lives in the mountains and wooded thickets of Madagascar Tenrec, which looks like a hedgehog and is as tall as a rabbit. This is a representative of insectivores, which can only be seen in the summer, and even then in the evening or at night. In winter, the animal hibernates.

The island is home to many other animals. Separately, we can highlight the water pig (a large rodent), the African wild boar, as well as the humpbacked zebu bull, which local residents raise for meat. More familiar animals include lions, elephants, and antelopes. Also on the island there are large sea turtles and bats.

Vegetable world

The development of the flora of Madagascar was greatly influenced by the early separation of the island from the African continent. That is why the island has preserved many plants that are difficult to find in other parts of the planet.

The central and eastern part of Madagascar is covered with rugged tropical forests, in which more than three and a half hundred different trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants grow. The most interesting are black ebony, the wood of which is very expensive, rubber vines, raffia palms and baobabs. The plant symbol of the island is considered to be the royal delonix or “fire tree”. The symbol of travelers and tourists on the island is considered to be the Madagascar ravenapa or “travel tree”.

Kitchen

The main component of Madagascar cuisine is rice. It is prepared in all possible ways: boiled, stewed, fried and combined with various fillings: vegetables, fish, meat. Also, local food is simply impossible without various spices and sauces, which are added everywhere except sweet dishes. Vegetable salads, which are prepared from tomatoes, corn, beans and other vegetables, are also very popular on the island.
A huge amount of fruit grows on the island. These include the familiar bananas, strawberries, mangoes, persimmons, pineapples, coconuts, and more exotic fruits, such as annona, guava, and lychee. Fruits are often used to make fruit salads, drinks, and simply added to main dishes.

Sights of Madagascar

The main attraction of Madagascar is, of course, its amazing nature and unusual animals. We list a few places that all tourists who travel to Madagascar must visit.

Volcano Ankaratra. Thousands of tourists annually visit this volcano, which “fell asleep” several thousand years ago. It is one of the highest in the region, reaching up to 2645 meters. Several centuries ago, robbers hid there from justice, but today this volcano is one of the island’s attractions.

If you are looking for a real paradise on earth, then the island of Ile Sainte-Marie is one of the contenders for this nomination. This is a small island that is located just 7 kilometers off the east coast of Madagascar. On the island you can find magnificent beaches, comfortable hotels and very beautiful nature. Well, the main entertainment on the island is watching humpback whales, which appear in the local waters every year in the summer.

Kirindy Forest. This forest is perhaps the most visited place by tourists in Madagascar. This is a great place to see animals that are nocturnal. The forest is home to unusual species of animals and birds, and unique types of trees grow.

Tsingy de Bemaraha Nature Reserve. This reserve is located in the west of the island and was created to protect unusual karst landscapes and rare species of lemurs. Almost the entire reserve looks like one large labyrinth of limestone teeth that appeared as a result of rains and other natural factors. It is problematic for a person to move around the reserve without special shoes, but the lemurs, of which there are thousands, feel right at home.

Madagascar is an island with rich and very beautiful nature. The distinctive culture of the indigenous people, delicious cuisine, amazing natural monuments and rare species of animals - this is Madagascar, an island that is easy to fall in love with.

When Admiral Etienne de Flacourt published his History of the Grand Island in 1658 Madagascar”, summing up his long stay in this corner of the Earth, it contained a lot of the most incredible information, perceived as fables of travelers, and their veracity was established only centuries later.

Speaking about birds “inhabiting forests,” Flacourt, for example, wrote: “Vurupatra is a large bird living in Ampatra, lays eggs, like an ostrich, in the most deserted places.”

After Flacourt, other travelers wrote about the huge bird, and they were also called dreamers. And she also laid eggs, larger than those that ostriches “produce,” and the locals used them as utensils.

Here is what Ferdinand von Hochstäcker writes:

“Madagascars came to Mauritius to buy rum. The containers they brought with them were egg shells eight times larger than ostrich eggs and 135 times larger than chicken eggs; they held more than 9 liters. They said that these eggs are sometimes found in desert areas, and birds are occasionally seen.”

It is clear that all this was perceived as anecdotes. If an ostrich with a height of 2 meters 50 centimeters was considered a giant monster bird, then what can we say about a giant that laid eggs eight times larger than an ostrich?

As Orientalists believed, these rumors were nothing more than an echo of the legend of the Rukh bird from the tales of the Arabian Nights, a terrible creature that had earned a dubious reputation among Arab sailors. She was so huge, they said about her, that when she appeared in the sky, a shadow appeared: her wings covered the sun. And she is so strong that she can grab an elephant and lift it into the air, and impale several animals on its horn at once. It happened that she carried away entire ships with crews...

On his second voyage, Sinbad the Sailor encountered this bird after he found an egg. It was 50 steps wide!

When Herodotus wrote about giant African birds, their size seemed more modest: Egyptian priests told him about a race of flying giants who lived on the other side of the source of the Nile, and they had the power to lift a person. Let us remember that the largest eagle is able to lift a creature no larger than a rabbit...

Marco Polo in the fourteenth century heard echoes of the same tale from the lips of Kublai Khan. The Asian ruler showed him the feathers of a bird “about 20 meters long” and two eggs of considerable size. And he added that Rock comes from the island of Madagascar on the south side.

Thus, the stories about the Rukh bird and the Malagasy legends coincided in time and space. But it seemed incredible that a bird weighing several hundred kilograms could rise into the air. But it was believed that if a bird is a bird, it must certainly be able to fly. And the Rock bird, also known as Vurupatra, was declared a fable.

Epiornis eggs

Years passed, and in 1834, the French traveler Goudeau picked up incredible-sized halves of shells on the island, which served as bottles for local residents. He made a drawing and sent it in 1840 to Paris to ornithologist Jules Verreau. He, based only on the appearance of the egg, named the bird that laid it epiornis, “big bird.”

A few years later, this name, which initially aroused suspicion, was legitimized when Dumarel saw a whole egg in the vicinity of Diego Suarez in 1848. “It held 13 bottles of liquid.”

And in 1851, it was finally officially recognized that there were giant birds on the island: the captain of the merchant ship Malavois brought to the Paris Museum two eggs 32 centimeters long and 22 centimeters wide. They mixed in about eight liters (8 ostrich and 140 chicken eggs). From one such egg you can make an omelette for 70 people.

A few more years later, the famous traveler Alfred Grandidier brought from the Ambalistra swamps bones of an indeterminate type that, at first glance, belonged to some kind of pachyderm. But research has shown that these are bird bones (“elephant birds”). To be honest, ornithologists were not very surprised, because a few years earlier R. Owen described moa from bone remains from New Zealand. Based on the available material, Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire described the species Aepyornis maximus.

In fact, epiornis is not at all larger than moa in height (moa is 2 meters 50 centimeters tall). The Paris Museum has a restored skeleton of Aepornis - 2.68 meters. But this is also a very big increase.

Epiornis eggs

To be honest, there is no direct connection between the growth of a bird and its egg. Remember the kiwi from New Zealand: its eggs are comparable to those of an ostrich, and the bird itself is no larger than a chicken. And in terms of weight, the following data is obtained: 440 kilograms for the largest apiornis and 329 for a medium-sized moa.

When do giants disappear?

A study of the bones of Aepyornis showed that, unlike the legendary Rukh, this real bird did not know how to fly. Like other keelbirds, its relatives are the cassowary, moa, emu... Their wings were underdeveloped.

But is it the same bird that Flakur designated under the name Vurupatra? The eggs that were found in the sand in the dunes of the south and southeast or in the mud of the swamps were suspiciously fresh, as if they had just been laid. And the bones didn’t look like fossils...

They began to question the residents. They answered that the birds were found in the remote corners of the island, but they were seen very, very rarely. But naturalists, still under the influence of Cuvier, do not want to believe this, so no one today not only searched for the bird, but also studied the reasons for its disappearance.

Epiornis skull

One thing is obvious: man could not be the only reason for its death, unlike the story with the moa vurupatru, or vorompatru, was not exterminated for meat. There is not a word about this in the legends (and the Maori were happy to talk about hunting moa using simple pikes with a stone tip).

In an attempt to explain the death of Aepyornis, they went as far as asphyxia caused by gas releases in certain areas of the island. But isn't it too difficult? Most likely, it has to do with the habitat areas themselves. The climate changed, people drained the swamps, and the last shelters disappeared.

The giant swamps dried up in the highlands of Antsirabe and Betafo. Epiornis climbed further and further into the swamps and died there, not finding food. This is proven by their remains found in peat bogs. It is clear that man hastened the end of the vorompatra, it survived until recent times, until 1862 (when the inhabitants clearly saw it), not reaching quite a bit to the present day.

Other giants of Madagascar

Various factors contributed to the death of not only Epiornis, but also other species, such as Mullerornis, the giant cassowary of the Ankaratra region, Centornis and many others. But isn't it too early to bury them?

Just like on the neighboring islands - Seychelles and Mascarene - the giant tortoise Testudo grandidieri weighing up to one ton was found here. She apparently became a victim of drought. But according to Raymond Decarie, an expert on the fauna of Madagascar, the extermination of the turtle was not widespread.

“There are rumors about the presence in certain caves of the southwest of a mysterious creature that may turn out to be a giant turtle - are we talking about the last representatives of Testudo grandidieri?” - writes the zoologist.

Testudo grandidieri turtle shell

Another species: in Madagascar there were giant crocodiles, whose skulls reached 80 centimeters in width. There is evidence that they are still here.

The total drainage of the swamps led to the disappearance of hippopotamuses on the island. Previously, there were giants here, reminiscent of the Pleistocene hippopotamuses of Africa. Didn’t the great wanderer Dumont D’Urville write about them in 1829 in his book “Travels Around the World” while sailing along the rivers of Madagascar?

On the other hand, there is an assumption that it was the hippopotamus, or rather its image, transformed by the legend, that served as the basis for the myth of the tsogombi or ombirano - a water bull, half mule, half horse with a hump.

If we are talking about a hippopotamus, then it has changed a lot in the legends, because Tsogombi has huge hanging ears. In addition, he was “gifted” with a scream that would terrify anyone, as well as aggressive cannibalistic habits. The Mahafaly and Antrandon tribes, according to R. Decarie, attribute to him eggs that actually belonged to Epyornis.

There are also rumors of railalomena, which means "father or ancestor of the hippopotamus." He supposedly lives in swamps, and has a horn in his forehead. All this is very reminiscent of the famous "Dinosaur from the Congo" ( ). Perhaps the Bantu invaders who appeared here brought with them descriptions of a mysterious creature from the continent.

Both hypotheses have a right to exist, and in both cases there are similarities with the Congolese reptile - the body of a hippopotamus, horn, drooping ears (which in fact may be fleshy growths on the edges of the head and are visible on the dragon from the portico of Ishtar), oviparity, talking about a reptile , swamp habitat, aggressive character and, finally, wild screams.

If this creature lived in Madagascar, it could certainly have become one of the first victims of the drying out of swamps and lakes. Unless, of course, it's a giant turtle. Or a touring crocodile from the continent...

Tretretre and the man with the dog's head

Madagascar is called the land of semi-fossil animals. No other island can become such a showcase of ancient history. The remains of animals, birds, and reptiles often turn out to be so fresh that many wonder: are their “owners” alive?

Often legends and oral traditions claim that people knew them until relatively recently. Let us recall Gennep's principle, according to which memories of events are lost within two centuries where there is no oral tradition. That is why there is such great interest in the memories of travelers.

In addition to the epiornis, Flacourt wrote about another mysterious animal: “Tretretretra, or tratratratra, the size of a bull and with the face of a man. It is reminiscent of Ambroise Pare's tanakht. This is a solitary animal, and the inhabitants of that country are afraid of it and run away from it...”

The first reaction of naturalists of that time was, naturally, unambiguous - a myth. Nothing like this has ever lived in Madagascar; there have never been real monkeys there. Especially such an amazing view. So, someone repeated the naive fables of Marco Polo and Ctesias?

The first camouflage was removed with the discovery of the indri (Indris brevicaudatus), the largest living lemur, fitting the description of a "dog-headed man." It is about a meter high, almost without a tail (stump), often stands on its hind legs, being on the ground, it surprisingly resembles a person. Its elongated muzzle looks more like a fox than a dog.

Looking at him, you understand why members of the Betsimaraka clan both killed and deified him, calling him babakoto (father-child), considering him the descendant of a man who retired to the forests. Let us add that all lemurs for the Malagasy are fadi (taboo), because it is believed that this is another incarnation of man.

And at the end of the 19th century, the remains of a huge fossil lemur were found in Madagascar, which was called Megaladapis. The height of an adult Megaladapis was comparable to the height of a short person, the weight was supposedly up to 70 kilograms (for Megaladapis Edwards even up to 200 kilograms).

Megaladapis is believed to have gone extinct as early as the 10th millennium BC, but radiocarbon dating suggests that Edwards' Megaladapis was still living in Madagascar at the time Europeans arrived there in 1504.

Megaladapis

In those same years, remains of Paleopropithecus were discovered in Madagascar. Paleopropithecus is a genus of subfossil lemurs that lived in Madagascar from the Pleistocene to historical times. Paleopropithecus was also a large primate, weighing from 40 to 55 kilograms.

Paleopropithecus definitely lived in Madagascar at the time humans appeared there (the latest remains from the Ankilitheo deposit, according to radiocarbon dating, date back to the 14th-15th centuries AD). They could also be what was called a tretretre.

The fading heart of Gondwana

Logically, one could look for the same part of Gondwana in Madagascar as on the African continent. In fact, the island is not an African zoological province. Malgash animals are characterized, on the one hand, by the originality of their forms, and on the other hand, they are related to the forms of South America and the Indo-Malayan region.

Among the typical forms of Madagascar are lemurs, which differ from other primates in a number of anatomical features. It was for this appearance that scientists gave them the name “lemurs,” as the Romans called the phantoms of dead people. But lemurs live not only in Madagascar. Some are common in Africa - galago, potto and angwantibo, and in Malaysia - lorises and slow lorises.

But in Madagascar there live forms completely unknown in Africa. Moreover, they are famous in... the Antilles! And in South America. This whole cocktail is explained by the presence of the once huge continent of Gondwana.

A study of the fossil remains of lemurs showed that even in the recent era there were a great many of them. Magaladapis were true tree-climbing rhinoceroses. They did this despite their size, thanks to their tenacious fingers. And there were many others. And looking at them, you think that Flacourt’s descriptions do not seem so fantastic.

Who is Tokandia - a “four-legged jumper” that lives in trees and makes human sounds? Who are the Kolonoros, the Malagasy gnomes?

“All tribes,” writes Decarie, “believe in some semblance of our dwarfs, brownies and gnomes. Their names vary by region: bibialona, ​​kotokeli, and so on. Colonoro is something of an amphibian. On Lake Alcatra they live like sirens or mermaids with long fluffy hair, they live in the water, they reach out to pies, they grab children.”

According to the beliefs of the Betsileo, the Colonoro, on the contrary, is a land creature two cubits high, covered with long hair, he has a wife named Kotokeli, and lives in caves. She steals children from people and replaces them with her own.

In the Kinkong Lake area, the Sakalawa have a different concept of colonoro. This is a male creature that lives along the banks of ponds. Dimensions are less than a meter. He has a sweet feminine voice, eats fish, and walks around the neighborhood in the evenings. Meets a man, talks to him and lures him into a pond.

Strange legends spread throughout the island, fresh bones found in the southwest, and the conditions of their occurrence indicate that Hadropithecus (another ancient species of lemur) may have survived into recent eras in the region of Bara, Ancazoabo.

Many areas of Madagascar are still completely unexplored, and giant lemurs could survive on these millions of hectares of forest. Remember the okapi - he lived incognito for a long time.