Biodiversity in Madagascar under threat
Lemurs in danger of extinction
Scientists have warned of a loss of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity. According to a study, restoring biodiversity in the African island nation would take millions of years.
Ring-tailed lemurs – a primate species from the group of lemurs – inhabit regions in southwestern Madagascar. (archive image)
Should Madagascar’s endangered species go extinct, it would take 23 million years for mammalian diversity to return to that which existed before humans settled in Madagascar, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Madagascar broke away from the mainland around 80 million years ago. As a result, an extraordinary variety of plants and animals developed on the island in the Indian Ocean. The settlement of the island by humans around 2500 years ago led to the extinction of around 30 species of mammals, including giant lemurs and elephant birds.
If species extinction were stopped now, it would take three million years for the fauna to recover, according to the study that has now been published. However, should the 128 mammals currently listed as endangered also go extinct, that period would be stretched to 23 million years, warned paleontologists from Madagascar, Europe and the US involved in the study.
Lemurs are one of the endangered species in Madagascar. According to the World Conservation Union IUCN, more than a hundred subspecies of primates are considered endangered in 2020.
“If Madagascar’s endemic fauna and flora becomes extinct, there will be a collapse of ecosystems on the island,” said Luis Lima Valente, one of the study’s co-authors. “This will have a dramatic impact on the livelihoods of people in the region, leading to famine and mass emigration.” If action is taken now to protect species, there is a chance “to save millions of years of evolution”.
(SDA)