Madagascar.

Reptiles and Amphibians

Amphibians
The Amphibians of Madagascar are yet another example of the great diversity of this island. There are so far over 300 species described and the number rises almost daily.
The results of a survey released in May 2009 for example has added almost 221 new species since the last survey was carried out. So that now makes 521 species since I wrote this page a year ago!
See this article for more information. National Geographic.
Most if not all of them are endemic to the island. Only Brazil, Columbia and Mexico surpass Madagascar in the number of endemic species. So yet again this makes Madagascar an important global biodiversity hot spot. Amphibians include Frogs,Toads, Salamanders, Newts and Caecilians. Amazingly, when I look back through our collection of photos from our Madagascar trips we have no photographs of any amphibians at all! In hindsight this makes sense to me as we have concentrated most of our trips on the western drier part of the island and most of the trips have been during the dry season also. There is a logical reason for this, from our point of view anyway. When we travel, we like to get a bit of sunshine because we get sick and tired of the wet climate we have been experiencing here in Ireland over the last ten years. As I type this it is summer in Ireland, the month of July, and it is lashing rain. Amphibians love the moisture and indeed many need it for survival, so this is something I am going to have address on our next trip to Madagascar. We just have to go in the wet season!

Reptiles
Reptiles are a different matter as many of them do tend to like the sun. The only lizard found in Ireland can be found basking on rocks during the brief periods of sunshine.
There are currently 346 species of reptile (340 non marine) with 314 of these being endemic to Madagascar. Again Madagascar is right up there with other regions of the world as far as endemics are concerned. Since the mid 1980's there has been an upsurge in interest in Madagascar reptiles with many new species being identified. The family Opluridae, of which we do have some photos, is totally endemic to Madagascar. There is no doubt that some of the reptile fauna are relics of Gondwana which adapted to life on the island after the break up, while others are what is known as "post Gondwanic oceanic dispersers" which is self explanatory really. Whether this dispersal had human assistance or not is still being discussed.

Geckos
One reptile you will be glad to see is the Gecko of which there are 88 species and 12 genera present. There is something satisfying about lying under your mosquito net at night while the local Geckos snap at Mossies and cockroaches! We have had very young Geckos sit on out shoulders while we were having dinner. Although most of the Geckos globally are nocturnal in habit, some of the Malagasy ones have evolved to be diurnal, such as the genera Lygodactylus, Microscalabotes and Phelsuma. The Uroplatus genus are particularly well adapted in Madagascar with sometimes astonishing levels of camouflage. Like the Chameleons, the Geckos are threatened by exploitation for the pet trade.

Plated Lizards
There are also the Plated Lizards, Gerrhosauridae, in Madagascar with two genera present and all 19 species endemic to the island.

Iguanids
The Iguanids are represented by two endemic genera, Chalarodon and Oplurus, comprising 1 and 6 species respectively. Their nearest relatives are in America. Chalarodon is a terrestrial species which favours sandy soil and is adapted to running quite fast over loose sand. It is even known to be bipedal at speed over short distances. There are also skinks from the family Scincidae present on the island and these have adapted themselves superbly to their different habitats. There are currently at least 60 species named but a lot more work is ongoing on this group.

Chameleons
The Chameleons are perhaps Madagascar's most famous reptile group and are the most studied although much of the information comes from those held in captivity.
There are three endemic genera on the island. Brookesia, the dwarf Chameleons, have currently 26 species named and are the most diverse group on the island having adapted to many different habitats. The Calumma genera has 22 species and the Furcifer genera has 18 species and these are probably the two groups which we generally associate Chameleons with. Unfortunately these latter two groups are wide open to exploitation by the pet trade and most of the Chameleons exported from the island are taken from the wild. Since 1996, the trade in many Chameleons has been banned by CITES but the tiny Brookesias (some are only the size of a fingernail) are not covered by this ban and continue to be exploited for export at a rate which the populations cannot possibly maintain for much longer. The number of species of Brookesias is liable to increase greatly as further research continues because they are so easily overlooked because of their size. The Malagasy themselves have a somewhat uneasy relationship with Chameleons and in some areas they are regarded as harbouring bad spirits.
The great majority of Chameleons occur in the Eastern humid rainforests of the island and different species show a marked preference for being present at certain altitudes only.

Crocodiles.
There are crocodiles in Madagascar, Crocodylus niloticus, the Nile Crocodile is the species. What has surprised me in my research for this site is the history of crocodiles on the island. They were once abundant as recently as the early twentieth century. Westerners considered them a nuisance, downright dangerous and offered a bounty for their skins. Whereas the Malagasy had a long history of peaceful coexistence with the crocodile and indeed some tribes treated the creatures almost like gods with the Sakalava actually protecting and feeding them, in a short space of time they began to regard the crocodile as a means of making money. Thousands of skins a month were exported in the 1940's and the collection of crocodile eggs reached alarming proportions with reports of one egg collector bringing in 7,000 eggs in 3 weeks in the early 1950's. Driven almost to extinction on the island during this period of sustained persecution, the crocodile has by all means shown a remarkable recovery since colonial times ended. Ranching of crocodiles and egg collecting is still allowed under government license but is more controlled and basically takes place where crocodiles become a nuisance because of their numbers. Illegal hunting does take place, even in protected areas, and is a problem but the crocodile population as it now stands is no longer regarded as endangered. What did surprise me is the diet of Malagasy Crocodiles. On mainland Africa we know they eat prey of all sizes and have seen many a wildlife documentary of them taking fully grown wildebeest and antelope as they try to cross rivers but what do they eat in Madagascar? There are no large prey animals on the island.. It seems they take bush pigs and zebu commonly but there is also a hint of a suggestion in the literature that humans may also be regularly on their diet. Between 1900 and 1995 there were 145 documented cases of crocodile attacks on humans with 57 of these proving fatal. (Behra 1996).

Snakes.
There are 3 species of Boa present on Madagascar and all 3 are endemic and close relatives to the South American Boas. Although protected by CITES there is an export trade in them and they also find their way onto the menu of Malagasy of Chinese origin. They have readily adapted themselves to living close to human habitation and are the snake most likely to be seen when traveling around the island. The Colubrid group of snakes is the largest on the island and has a current count of 75 species with 28 of these only being discovered in the last 20 years. All are endemic to the island. Two of them are aquatic snakes but do not show any of the characteristics common in aquatic snakes elsewhere in the world. The relationship of the Malagasy Colubrids to other Colubrids worldwide has yet to be unentangled and more work is ongoing on this. It is difficult to determine how threatened the Malagasy snakes are because, contrary to popular belief, they are not that easy to find unless you know where to look and make a determined effort to search for them. Some species originally thought to be rare have since proven to more common that expected. Current opinion amongst herpetologists suggests that none of the Malagasy snakes are poisonous although some have been reported as causing marked local reactions when they have bitten humans.

Tortoises.
Madagascar has four endemic land tortoise species and all are highly endangered by human exploitation for food. I have also seen the local musicians use tortoise shell for plectrums/picks for their home built guitars and tsabokys. Don't complain , it's not that long ago since I could walk into a music shop in Dublin and buy a tortoise shell pick for a guitar.
Geochelone radiata is known as the Radiated Tortoise and is the best known.
Geochelone yniphora is the Ploughshare Tortoise and is the largest and rarest of the four species.
Pyxis arachnoides is the Spider Tortoise and is found in coastal regions of Southern Madagascar. There are 3 subspecies in the area. The recent political turmoil in Madagascar (2009) has reduced completely the slim protection this small tortoise had been afforded. As much as 90% of the wild population has dissappeared as poaching for the pet trade has become widespread. Although trade in the species is banned there is no one to enforce the law at the moment. See the following article for an up to date report. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8224000/8224143.stm
Pyxis planicauda is the Flat-tailed Tortoise found around Morondava and is a small, shy retiring species.
A fifth species, Kinixys belliana is thought to have been introduced by humans from mainland Africa but certainly has been established on the island for a long time.

Freshwater Turtles.
Again there are four species of turtle with one of them, Erymnochelys madagascariensis being endemic and the other 3 occurring on mainland Africa also. Their main enemy is human with all the species being taken as a local food source. They are caught as a by-product of fishing with fine nets and very often they are present in good numbers in an area until overfishing causes their sudden demise. The catching of egg carrying females for food can and does lead to a sudden and abrupt disappearance from a particular locality. Erymnochelys when it reaches adult size has a shell strong enough even to withstand crocodiles trying to crush them for food!

Please click on the photos link opposite left to see our images of Reptiles in Madagascar.

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