iS 4 THE ANIMALS OF MADAGASCAR 



tropical America. Madagascar, which lies well within the tropics, is an elongated 



island of great extent, lying with its major axis approximately parallel to the 



African continent. Along this north to south axis runs a backbone of mountains, 



the eastern flanks of which, facing the Indian Ocean, are clothed with dense forests, 



while the western slopes are less heavily wooded. 



Before referring to the existing members of the fauna it is important to 



mention that in several parts of Madagascar occur vast marshes from which have 



been obtained remains of species of animals belonging for the most part to groups 



now represented in the island, but in many instances of much larger size. From a 



swamp near Antananarivo have been obtained a very large nimiber of bones and 



skulls of these forerunners of the present fauna, more especially lemurs. Some of 



these skulls are referred to species of the living genus Lemur, while others 



apparently indicate a transition from the existing short-tailed indri in the direction 



of an extinct type described as Archceolemur. Most interesting of all is, however, 



Megcdadapis, one species of which must have been of the approximate size of an 



average leopard. Certain features in their structure suggest that some of these 



giant extinct lemurs may have been aquatic in their habits. There are also 



indications of affinity between some of these lemur-like creatures and monkeys, 



which has led at least one naturalist to conclude that there is no justification for 



referring lemurs and monkeys to distinct subordinal groups. 



As will be gathered from the foregoing paragraph, Madagascar, 

 Indri and Sifaka. .. & s>s>rsr t> 



in addition to the absence of all large beasts-of-prey save one, is 



characterised by possessing, at the present day, no monkeys, their place being taken 

 by a great development of that remarkable group of monkey-like creatures 

 collectively known as lemurs. Although the Malagasy lemurs are classed in the 

 same group (Lemuroidea) as the pottos and galagos of Africa, yet they are all 

 perfectly distinct from both ; and the same remark applies to the Asiatic lorises. 

 Madagascar is, in fact, the sole habitat of the true lemurs and their near relatives 

 the indri and sifakas ; and its lemuroid population far surpasses that of all the rest 

 of the Old World, where the group is alone now found. So numerous indeed are 

 these lemuroids, not only in species, but also in individuals, that some are to be seen 

 in almost every part of the island where there are trees. By the natives they are 

 regarded with superstitious dread, probably owing to the large eyes, weird form, 

 and nocturnal habits of the majority. 



The largest of all is the indri, or babakoto (Indris brevicaudata), which, 

 together with the under-mentioned sifakas and avahi, represents a special group, 

 regarded by some naturalists as a subfamily (Indrisince) of the Lemuridce, and by 

 others as a distinct family, Indrisidce. Its second native name means ' : boy " in 

 the Hova language. In length it measures about 2 feet, inclusive of the rudi- 

 mentary tail ; in colour the coat is a mixture of black and white, in large patches, 

 relieved with numerous shades of grey, the disposition of the colours displaying 

 much individual, or possibly racial, variation. In diet the indri is a vegetarian 

 while in habits it is diurnal, moving about the trees in which it spends its life in 

 an upright posture. A peculiar pouch in the throat acts as a distensible resonating 

 organ, by means of which the indri produces the dog-like howls whence is derived 

 its third native name, amboanata, meaning " the dog of the forest." 



