The second Wednesday of each month is my local Women’s Institute meeting. The first part is a meeting, followed by a speaker, coffee/tea/cake and then close. We take turns doing certain jobs at the meeting, like serving the tea, and this month my job was to give the vote of thanks to our speaker.
The subject matter of our speakers is very wide-ranging; this evening a man called Clive Nuttman gave us a fascinating talk about the “Enchanted Isle of Madagascar”. He worked for the Tropical Biological Association for many years, teaching field courses in conservation in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar, and shared with us a unique insight into the country.
Around 80 million years ago, Madagascar was separated from the Indian subcontinent and as a result its biodiversity is very unique. There are many species that only exist in certain areas on the island, such as the hissing cockroach, the Blue Coua bird and spiders as big as your hand 😅
Coincidentally, I watched Madagascar (the animated film) the other evening and felt a bit sorry for the fossas (called foosas in the film) when Alex was beating them up. Depicted as a feared predator of the lemur in the film, the fossa are actually the top predator in Madagascar. Sadly, like other species such as the Malagasy giant jumping rat (sounds like a nightmare, but these rats are really cute!), they are endangered.
Madagascar is on my bucket list – such an interesting and diverse place, with rain forests and mountains in the east, a plateau in the middle and mangroves and dry forests in the west, and a plethora of weird and wonderful animals and insects. Today’s image is of the iconic Boabab trees, which are dwindling due to deforestation. I hope that one day I will get to see them – and maybe a giant jumping rat!
Elizabeth Mooney 