Forests around the world will need to shift their ranges to adapt to climate change. But many trees and plants rely on animals to spread their seeds widely, and those partners are declining.
About 60 per cent of monkeys, apes, lemurs, lorises and tarsiers are threatened with extinction. Climate change will only make it more difficult for them to survive.
Gray mouse lemurs are more closely related to humans than mice. They also have the ability to hibernate, and researchers are hoping to learn how to transfer that ability to humans.
New research shows that slowing deforestation is the most essential step for saving Madagascar’s lemurs, and can help protect them against the longer-term threat of climate change.
A recent spate of attacks have left local people scared for their safety in rural Madagascar, threatening vital conservation work in the nearby rainforest.
The fossa, Madagascar’s largest predator, is a cat-like carnivore that eats everything from insects to lemurs. Because they are rare and elusive, scientists know very little about them, including how many there are.
More than 90% of Madagascar’s lemurs face extinction. Losing them will mean a loss of the valuable function they serve to the forests in which they live.