Endemism is the name of the game on Madagascar, the world’s fourth largest island and home to some truly astonishing creatures. This endemism is as a result of the fact that the island has been isolated for almost 100 million years, when it broke off from India. This isolation has led to an abundance of fauna and flora species that occur nowhere else on the planet.
Scientist recently discovered that this separation only in part explains Madagascar’s high endemism levels. A very intriguing fact is that many of these endemic plants and animals have very small distributions on the island, something that is called micro-endemism. The theory is that micro-climate changes and specific topographic patterns of rivers and lakes on the island led to specific adaptations in certain plants, birds and animals, in turn leading to brand new species over time.
Something else to ponder is the sad fact that since humans arrived on the island about 2,350 years ago, Madagascar has lost more than 90 percent of its original forests. We can only imagine what otherworldly creatures and plants existed before that time…
Today, Madagascar is rightly classified by Conservation International as a biodiversity hotspot. An almost unbelievable 80 percent of all the species (over 250,000) found in Madagascar are endemic.
This includes:
• six endemic bird families and a full 120 endemic bird species,
• the cat-like, carnivorous Fossa,
• over 200 endemic reptile species,
• the lemurs, Madagascar’s flagship mammal species,
• more than 100 endemic fish species, and
• an incredible 12,000 endemic plant species!
Some of the top endemic birds on the island include Madagascan Fish Eagle, Malagasy and Banded Kestrel, Malagasy Pond Heron, Madagascan Ibis, Madagascan Grebe, Meller’s Duck, Red Fody, Long-tailed, Short-legged, Pitta-like, Scaly and Rufous-headed Ground Roller, Velvet Asity, Helmet, Van Dam’s, Chabert and Rufous Vanga, Madagascan Buttonquail, Madagascan Sandgrouse, Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity and many more!
We still have limited space available on our September 2020 small-group, expert-guided birding trip to magical Madagascar. Enquire at info@naturetravelbirding.com for more info, or browse to our Madagascar Birding Tour on our website.