Animal Welfare Madagascar Project #25839

Protect a brand new mouse lemur in Madagascar!

by SEED Madagascar

Project Report | May 8, 2017
News from Project Microcebus!

By Billy Curryer | Project Development Officer

Lemur at night

SEED Madagascar (SEED) is currently preparing for the return of the Primary Investigator for Project Microcebus to Fort Dauphin in early June 2017. With the project scheduled to start in July 2017, there are lots of tasks to be completed by the Primary Investigator and project staff to ensure everything is in place for a timely start. Research equipment will be purchased and assembled, and a comprehensive research and activity plan will be drawn up. SEED is extremely excited to welcome back its Primary Investigator and to get preliminary work started.

Hair and tissue samples collected during 2016 are currently being processed by UK customs and are awaiting genetic analysis. This has caused a delay to formal species description; however it is expected to follow in the coming months.

In 2017, the SEED Madagascar Conservation Programme has been hard at work conducting lemur population abundance and density research in Sainte Luce. This research is conducted through distance sampling transects at night. Lemur eye shine is much like a domestic cat’s, making it easier to spot the four species of lemur in the dark. Three of the species are nocturnal, whilst the other species is Cathemerality (active both in the day and night throughout the year). Once a lemur has been sighted, the team records the species, the habitat characteristics, and distance from the transect. The data is later used to calculate population abundances and densities.

Upon commencement, Project Microcebus will scale-up this research from the four forest fragments currently analysed to an additional one, as well as residual forest remnants lying around the forest fragments. This will enable SEED to complete a first assessment of the new species’ population and calculate its geographic range.

World Environment Day is just around the corner. Everyone at SEED cannot contain their excitement and are gearing up for the celebration on the 5^th June 2017. Each year, the organisation holds a celebration in Sainte Luce with a range of activities including a parade, quizzes and competitions, as well as practical activities. SEED will focus upon this year’s theme of “Connecting People to Nature” whilst promoting lemurs and Microcebus with the hope of encouraging their conservation in Sainte Luce.

Night herp transect

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Feb 16, 2017
Germany, Genes and Germination

By Billy Curryer | Project Development Officer

The Children of Club A

Preliminary project activities have already begun in Sainte Luce. Our Primary Investigator and mouse lemur specialist visited the SEED Madagascar Conservation Programme (SCP) camp in September 2016 to start gathering research. By December 2016, tissue and hair samples had been collected from five mouse lemurs in the S9 forest fragment. As I type, the samples are on route to Germany to be genetically analysed at the German Primate Centre and in the coming months it will be confirmed whether the candidate species in Sainte Luce is in fact a new, genetically distinct species of mouse lemur. If it is discovered to be a new species, the results will be and the new species will be announced to the world. Follow this page closely for further updates about the publication.

Community education progress is always being made in Sainte Luce. The children of Sainte Luce receive conservation sessions through SEED Madagascar’s Club Atsatsaky (Club A), a conservation class designed to educate children and inspire young, budding conservationists. The sessions occur twice a week, at two different schools in Sainte Luce and cover important conservation topics such as life cycles, pollination, threats to the forest, and the illicit trade of endangered animals. The children have been attending sessions on the importance of the conservation of mouse lemurs and its habitat in recent weeks. In addition, as the forest is of such importance to not only all the wildlife found in Sainte Luce, but also the community, Club A continuously works to improve knowledge of the forest, sustainable management, and its importance in Sainte Luce, indirectly aiding mouse lemur conservation.

Finally, before the habitat corridor is constructed, initial research is required to discover a native, fast growing, and sun-tolerant species of tree that can be used to reforest the proposed habitat corridor area. As such, dedicated SCP staff have been out in the forest fragments, identifying the species of trees used by the lemurs and collecting seeds for germination and growing trails. The nursery is currently flourishing with flora, and analysis is always underway to determine the most successful species.

Envrironmental Education at Club A

Our furry friend hanging out in Sainte Luce

Releasing the new species

Preperations for the habitat corridors

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