Thursday 21 January 2016

Madagascar: A World Apart!


We would like to alert you to Part 2 of a new 3 part series on BBC 4 called Nature’s Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution. 

Episode 2 titled “Madagascar: A World Apart” is scheduled for Monday 25th January at 9pm. It examines how Madagascar is a natural laboratory of evolution and introduces the viewer to the amazing species that inhabit the island.

Our partner Association Mitsinjo is featured in the episode. They are involved in extending the forest corridor around Andasibe National Park.

More details from the BBC website  which highlights the following (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yrgvr):
This series examines, “some of the crucial influences on natural selection that are normally overlooked - like geology, geography, isolation and time - the series reveals that there's much more to evolution than 'survival of the fittest'. Charting the lifecycle of islands - from their birth and colonisation to the flowering of evolutionary creativity that often accompanies their maturity, and what happens when an island grows old and nears its end - Fortey encounters wild lemurs in the rainforest of Madagascar, acid-resistant shrimps in the rock pools of Hawaii, and giant wolf spiders in Madeira as he searches for the hidden rules of island evolution.

In the second episode, Fortey travels to the rainforests of Madagascar - an ancient island that has spawned some of the most extraordinary groups of plants and animals anywhere in the world. From beautiful Indri lemurs, toxic frogs, and the cat-like giant mongoose called the fossa, to evolutionary oddities like the giraffe-necked weevil and the otherworldly aye-aye, he uncovers the secrets of the evolutionary niche - examining how, given millions of years, animals and plants can adapt to fill almost any opportunity they find.”

To find out more about the work that Association Mitsinjo does please visit: 
https://associationmitsinjo.wordpress.com/reforestation/

And to find out what we do in Madagascar and to see how you can get involved visit http://www.moneyformadagascar.org/To make a donation to support our partners who are trying to protect forests and livelihoods in Madagascar, please visit http://moneyformadagascar.org/english/make-a-donation.asp