Into The Rainforest - Madagascar

Ranger Rick, July, 2001 by Elizabeth Schleichert

It's chilly and wet. The streams are fast-moving, the forests are thick, the trails are muddy-- so what are these people doing here?

One night Achille, a scientist from Madagascar, "caught" a treefrog in his head lamp! It was a Madagascar bright-eyed frog. Those long back legs help it leap from branch to branch. Anyone for a game of leapfrog?

Suppose you wanted to have the adventure of a lifetime. Where would you go?

If you were a scientist, you might head to Madagascar, an island off the coast of southern Africa (see map on page 22). That's what this group did. Their mission: to find as many kinds of animals and plants as they could in a steep, forested part of the island. The place was called Marojejy (mah-row-SHAY-she). And they had just six weeks to do the job.

COULD IT BE SAVED?

Nobody really knew exactly what kinds of animals lived in Marojejy. It was important to try to find out. Why? Because many of the forests in Madagascar had already been destroyed. People had chopped down the trees for firewood. And they had taken over the land for farms. But if lots of unusual animals were found in Marojejy, maybe more people would want to save this place.

MAGICAL FOREST

Marojejy looks like a magical place. Rainforests cover the hillsides (see large photo, right). Trees, shrubs, ferns, and other plants crowd together as they reach for the light. Feathery mosses and lichens hang from the tree branches. They make the forest seem mysterious. Marojejy, it turns out, also holds many awesome creatures.

On their mission, the scientists trekked up muddy, slippery slopes and crossed roaring streams. Yes, Marojejy is very wet--it rains almost every day for months on end. The scientists wore their rain gear nearly all the time.

Scientist Jean-Claude (1) could hardly put his binoculars down. Keeping an eye on all the birds in Marojejy kept him hopping!

This brown leaf-tailed gecko (2) is easy to see here. But when it lies flat against the bark of certain trees, the gecko's fringes and flaps make it nearly invisible.

Another animal often hidden in the trees is the scops owl (3). But just after the sun sets, you can hear the owl's muffled "whoo, whoo, whoo."

A scientist has caught a male common sunbird-asity and is checking him over (4). The bird uses those dazzling blue feathers to attract a mate. His long, curved bill lets him snatch spiders and insects from deep inside flowers.

High-tech gear helped the team do its job (right). Here the expedition's leader, Steve, was using a receiver to read signals from a satellite. It gave him his exact location on a map. With this information, Steve could figure out where the group should go next.

After several days of hard rain, the rivers were rushing. In the photo below, insect expert Jean and some helpers had just safely crossed a fast-moving stream. But they got soaked!

HILLSIDE CAMPS

The group camped at five separate places as they moved up the mountainside. Why so many stopovers? Because different species (kinds) of plants and animals might be found at different heights.

At every new camp, the scientists spread out to see what they could discover nearby. Many of the rainforest creatures were active after dark. Some scientists often worked straight through the night. They got very little sleep. For example, Eric spent nights collecting insects. Then during the day he sorted out what he'd collected.

A JOB WELL DONE

In the end, Eric and the others brought back pages of notes and thousands of samples. Among them were many new insect species and 113 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, including five new reptile species. The scientists also found two kinds of monkey-like animals called lemurs never before seen in Marojejy. And they counted 84 bird species.

The scientists could feel proud: They had taken a big step in learning about the wonders of Marojejy. Now, as people hear of the many special creatures there, maybe more of them will want to save this magical place. =

To attract insects at night, Eric set up a light near a sheet (above). Among the thousands he found was this giant silk moth.

A brown, twig-like body helps this young chameleon hide on the forest floor. When grown, it won't be more than just a few inches long.

AFRICA

Marojejy

Indian Ocean

Madagascar