Madagascar's primates

Three new species of mouse lemurs discovered!

The unpredictable landscapes on Madagascar offer numerous hiding places for all kinds of creatures. They live in dark and inaccessible forests, hide in the shadows of the vast mountain ranges and camouflage themselves first class in the dry savannah. Many of the native species occur only in very small areas. Their survival therefore depends on the preservation of their habitat. However, the habitats of the plants and animals living on Madagascar in particular are acutely threatened by Slash-and-burn and Predatory Mining endangered. Researchers working tirelessly to describe and define the island's species are thus leading a race against time. So it is very fortunate that a group of scientists from Germany, the U.S. and Madagascar are now three new species of mouse macaws has discovered.

Mouse macaques - The most difficult primate species to identify

Mouse macaws belong to the Lemursof which today over 100 species are known. All native only to Madagascar and most of them endangered. The small mouse macaws are particularly difficult to define, as all species look very similar due to their brown fur and large googly eyes. In addition, the small animals are  nocturnal and their small size makes them difficult to spot in the dense branches of the virgin forests. Therefore, in order to define the various species as such without any doubt, their respective Gene codes decoded. In this way, the three species now discovered could also be confirmed as such. 24 species of mouse macaws live with it on the island. Only 20 years ago, only two species of the small primates were known.

New ways of research lead to success

The number of newly discovered species is increasing with new research opportunities. Already three years ago, the same group of researchers from DPZ (German Primate Center) that it has discovered two new species of mouse maki on the island. The three recently discovered species were previously hiding in similar areas of Madagascar. In the Southeast of the island was the about 60g heavy Microcebus manitatra discovered, which thus forms quite a large species of sweet monkeys. Nevertheless, it weighs less than, for example, a bar of chocolate. Microcebus wholehorni on the other hand, owes its name to the Hamburg biologist Jörg Ganzhorn. Ganzhorn's mouse lemur" also lives in the southeast of the island. Its namesake has been conducting field research on Madagascar since the 1990s and is particularly committed to research and the protection of lemurs. The also quite large Boraha mouse macaw (he weighs a little more than 55g), was unknown until now. He lives on the beautiful Sainte-Marie Islandwhich the locals call Nosy Boraha. Visitors to the island describe it as tropical paradisewith white sandy beaches, dreamy bays and lively coral reefs. A trip that is therefore always worthwhile. How many of the small primates live on the island is still unknown. But who knows, maybe you will get to see one of the cute semi-monkeys during your visit.