Other indigenous creatures

From Mgias

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Sea Life 3 Bats 4 Reptiles 5 Chameleons 5.1 Habitat and distribution 5.2 Diet 5.3 Characteristics and behaviour 5.4 Unique tongue 5.5 Color 5.6 From giant to dwarf 5.7 The True Chameleons 5.8 The Stump Tailed Chameleon

Introduction

Madagascar is considered to be “nature’s living laboratory” with more than the 80% of its wildlife found nowhere else in the world. Indigenous land mammals include Malagasy primitive carnivores (civets, mongooses, criptoprocts or "Fosa"),tenrecs (insectivores),bats, rodents including the endemic giant jumping rats, reptiles, amphibians like frogs, and several thousand invertebrates. Curiously, many African species, particularly the large mammals and venomous snakes, are absent in Madagascar.

Sea Life

The Southern Region is rich with wild life. In particular

• Radiated endemic tortoises inhabit the barren part of the southern region.
• The coral reef of Toliara houses the following
• Migrating Humpback whales can be ssen along the Southern Coast during the breeding season from June to November. Faux-Cap in the extreme south and Fort-Dauphin in the south-east coast are one of the best site for whale watching.

Additionally, the coral reef of Toliara contains:

1. More than 250 species of brightly colored living corals,
2. Starfish,
3. Sea urchins,
4. Shells
5. Around 750 colorful fish species
6. The loggerhead turtle,
7. Marine mammals such as dolphins,
8. A prehistoric deep sea fish called the COELACANTHE (LATIMERIA chalumna), which was considered extinct 70 million years ago yet still inhabits the Mozambic Channel.

Bats

In the Northern Region, breathtaking "TSINGY" refers to sharp limestone pinnacles; this eroded karst mountain range with unusual geological structure, is unique on earth. It is a remnant of a coral reef system laid down 250 million years ago. It has been eroded by rain into jagged peaks, grooves and crevices, beneath which are networks of subterranean rivers, lakes, numerous large caverns of several kilometres and large caves with stalactites and stalagmites. One of the most popular caverns is the large Andrafiabe cave with inhabits some bat species.

Reptiles

Reptiles are highly diverse in Madagascar, with about 300 species of which 95% are found nowhere else in the world. These include crocodile, tortoise, turtle, snake, lizard, gecko and chameleon. The eastern rainforest is very rich in reptiles over half of Madagascar five lizard families including gecko, iguanid, plated lizard , skink and chameleon are present here. The chameleon is one of Madagascar's most fascinating animals. They are distributed mainly in Africa and Madagascar but about two-third of world’s 147 chameleon species are endemic to Madagascar.

Chameleons

Habitat and distribution

Like all the reptile species, chameleons have been restricted to native forests and are unable to survive in other habitat. For example, the chameleon pardalis lives only in the northern rainforest in the Northern Region and can not be seen in the dry forest of the west and south. So, because of severe loss of forest cover by humans, chameleons are distributed in limited fagmented forest habitats and elevations. They are scattered in various vegetation types ranging from dry thicket forest, dry deciduous forest, and rainforest to high montain forest with heathland that exists in eleveations of around 1500m. Moreover, each species is related to a distinct habitat. For example, the chameleon campani and chameleon minor are confined in the high altitude of the central highlands exceeding 1500m in the Central Region, particularly in Ankaratra and Andringitra massives, whereas, the chameleon cerrucosus is found only in the Southern Region.

Diet

A chameleon's diet is composed of flowers, leaves, and insects such as flies, butterflies, termites and grasshoppers.

Characteristics and behaviour

Like Malagasy people, chameleons are said to have "one eye looking at the present and the other eye looking to the past". Certainly chamaeleon's eyes can swivel independently which allow him to look in two directions at the same time without turning his head. This specilized ability is useful for camouflage, and defence against predators. So, the chamaeleon walks in a slow jerky motion, with one eye looking forwards for viewing his prey and the other eye looking backwards to watch out for predators!

Unique tongue

During hunting, the chameleon judges that the distance between the insect and him are the same as his body length before he quickly flicks out his long sticky tongue to catch his prey. So amazingly, the length of a chameleon's tongue is equal to his body length!

Color

Color is the language used by chamaeleons to communicate with both his mates and ennemies. The ability to change colour is also used to express emotions, for camouflage to avoid predators. Almost all true chameleons are “sexually dichromatic”, the males being brighlty colored in order to to attract females. They are also sexually dimorphic which means that the males differ from females. Males are larger in size and have twin long or short noses called “horns”. Alternatively, they have a single nasal appendage. Some species have very long nose like Pinocchio!

From giant to dwarf

Chameleons differ from one species or genus to one another, in color, shape and size. The chameleonideae family is featured in two genera:

1. the Chamaeleo genus or true chameleon.
2. the Brookesia genus or stump tailed chameleon.

The True Chameleons

These are tree-dwelling chameleons, colorful, large with a very long prehensile tail which they use like fifth hand. They range from the calumma nasuta which is world’s smallest chameleon and is only 10 cm long (pictured), to the largest chamealon, the Calumma Parsonii tolongoina which measures up to 75 centimeters long. Both of them inhabit the eastern rainforest in the Eastern Region.

The Stump Tailed Chameleon

These are ground living dwarf chameleons which inhabit the forest floor under the leaf litter. They are very well camouflaged with their dull brown color. They ressemble tiny dinosaures with their spiny backbone and spiny unprehensile tail. Brookesia is the tiniest reptile in the world, which ranges from the smallest Brookesia minima of the rainforest measuring about three and half centimeters to the largest 10 centimeters. Another variety, Brookesia perarmata exists in the Western Region.