Word: madagascars
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have never much believed in natural selection, a trip to Madagascar would likely change your mind. The flora and fauna here, having developed for some 80 million years in virtual isolation from the rest of the world, have taken some curious evolutionary turns. The nocturnal aye-aye, for instance, has a long, skeletal middle finger that enables it to retrieve grubs from inside trees; the hook-billed vanga evolved a curved bill for a similar reason, while the horned-leaf chameleon can change color to match the dead leaves on the floor of western Madagascar's dry deciduous forest...
...most obviously adaptive evolutionary gifts are probably borne by the lemur, the family of small primates found only on Madagascar. The largest lemur, the indri, has humanlike hands and feet that enable it to scamper up the dense tree branches in Madagascar's few remaining intact forests. The graceful brown lemur bounds effortlessly across openings in the canopy and hangs by its knees to graze on leaves. The dextrous and stealthy white and black sifaka has springlike legs that propel it through the forest like a cat, in quiet, arcing leaps. Watching them move is a mesmerizing experience...
...lovable lemur could be for Madagascar what the panda - the original adaptively cute animal - is for China, a charismatic minor species, a symbol of the nation and conservation. Having a species recognized by the world can motivate locals also to support conservation. "It's good for people to know that they have a species around them that the world cares about," says Mittermeier. Already lemurs are attracting growing numbers of tourists to Madagascar, as evidenced by the full camping grounds at the lodge where our group stayed in the Ankarafantsika Park, where sifakas all but drop in on the breakfast...
Jokes aside, a look around Madagascar's landscape shows that evolution still knows how to craft a good old-fashioned survival technique. While at Ankarafantsika, we were sternly warned not to stray too close to the beautiful lake just a few minutes walk from our bungalows, because crocodiles had snapped up and devoured several people over the last several months. When we took a boat trip on the lake late one afternoon, we got to see crocodiles sunning themselves on the shore, including one specimen more than 12 ft. long - most of it jaws. Cuteness is a nice evolutionary trait...
...Click here for pictures of Madagascar's flora and fauna. Click here for pictures of primates on the danger list. See TIME's pictures of the week here...