Lemur"s lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another
What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.....»»
Scientists help link climate change to Madagascar"s megadrought
A University of California, Irvine-led team reveals a clear link between human-driven climate change and the years-long drought currently gripping southern Madagascar. Their study appears in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science......»»
New rice variety adapted to suit conditions in Madagascar—improved phosphorus absorption and increased zinc content
A new variety of rice that is adapted to life in low-phosphorus soils, that contains an exceptionally large amount of zinc and that was developed specifically for the conditions in Madagascar where it is grown, has recently been certified in the coun.....»»
Scientists describe new orchid species related to famous Darwin"s orchid
Missouri Botanical Garden scientists and collaborators discovered and described a new orchid species in Central Madagascar with a record-setting nectar spur and close ties to the famous "Darwin's orchid." This novelty species needs urgent conservatio.....»»
Scientists identify biodiversity conservation gaps in Madagascar
Despite the importance of biodiversity and the urgency to conserve it, assessing what aspect of biodiversity requires the highest priority has proven complex, especially when conservation resources are limited. A new study published in Current Biolog.....»»
El Nino brings hunger, drought fears to Madagascar
In a small village in southern Madagascar, dozens of women shelter from the scorching sun under a tree as they wait to weigh their children......»»
Researchers identify new species of tuft-tailed rat in Madagascar
In an international effort, researchers have identified a previously unknown tuft-tailed rat (genus Eliurus) taxon in the Montagne d'Ambre forest in northern Madagascar, underscoring the region's extraordinary biodiversity. This discovery, published.....»»
Researcher: Debt, wage theft and coercion drive the global garment industry—the only answer is collective action
Major fashion brands including Barbour and PVH (the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) have agreed to pay over £400,000 in compensation to migrant workers in Mauritius. These workers from Bangladesh, India, China and Madagascar had been force.....»»
Researchers help reduce lead levels in Madagascar drinking water
A team of engineers and public health experts from the University of South Florida is helping Toamasina, Madagascar, residents reduce their exposure to lead—a major global environmental pollutant that causes more than 1 million premature deaths eac.....»»
New leaf-tailed gecko from Madagascar is a master of disguise
Leaf-tailed geckos are masters of camouflage. Some species have skin flaps around the whole body and head, as well as flattened tails. During the day, they rest head-down on tree trunks with these skin flaps spread out, and blend seamlessly into thei.....»»
Research highlights benefits of wild plants in fallow land and other ecosystems in Madagascar
Many landscapes in the tropics consist of a mosaic of different types of land use. How people make use of these different ecosystems, with their particular plant communities, was unclear until now. Researchers, many of them from Madagascar, have now.....»»
Madagascar hippos were forest dwellers: Study
Extinct dwarf hippos that once roamed Madagascar lived in forests rather than open grasslands preferred by common hippos on mainland Africa, researchers at the University of Cincinnati discovered......»»
The ancient seafaring fauna of Madagascar
Three hundred miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, Madagascar is a land of mystery. There is such a rich diversity of vertebrates found only on the island that is so unlike anything seen elsewhere in the world that any evolutionary biologist h.....»»
Genetic analysis of Indigenous Taiwanese peoples sheds light on Austronesian expansion
The Austronesian language family is one of the largest in the world, comprising more than 1,200 languages spoken from Madagascar to Hawaii. Dang Liu, Albert Min-Shan Ko and Mark Stoneking collected genome-wide data from 55 individuals from seven Taiw.....»»
Comprehensive analysis of single plant cells provides new insights into natural product biosynthesis
Plants are impressive in their diversity, but especially in the variety of metabolites they produce. Many plant natural products are highly complex molecules, such as the alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine, which are produced by the Madagascar per.....»»
Climate change threatens lemurs on Madagascar
They are small, have a high reproductive output and live in the forests of Madagascar. During the 5-month rainy season, offspring are born and a fat pad is created to survive the cool dry season when food is scarce. But what happens when the rainy se.....»»
Cyclone Freddy kills four in "rare" return to Madagascar
Tropical storm Freddy returned to Madagascar in what meteorologists described on Monday as a "rare" loop trajectory, killing four people, including two children as it hit for the second time in as many weeks......»»
DNA from fossil eggshells reveals how extinct elephant birds lived
Madagascar's extinct elephant birds—the largest birds ever to have lived—have captured public interest for hundreds of years. Little is known about them due to large gaps in the skeletal fossil record......»»
Long lost Madagascar songbird seen again in wild
Conservationists were celebrating Wednesday the first sightings in 24 years of the dusky tetraka, a yellow-throated songbird native to Madagascar for which ornithologists had feared the worst......»»
Ancient eggshells unlock discovery of extinct elephant bird lineage
More than 1,200 years ago, flightless elephant birds roamed the island of Madagascar and laid eggs bigger than footballs. While these ostrich-like giants are now extinct, new research from CU Boulder and Curtin University in Australia reveals that th.....»»