I had a request for a spider today, so I’m not to blame if your preference is for something a bit more cuddly. This lovely lady is a Madagascar golden orb spider that I photographed while in Ranomafana National Park. Females like this one can be quite large — about five inches in length, while the males are much smaller. In fact, you can see a male above the female and a bit to the left.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/3.2 at 1/45th of a second (-2/3 stop ev)

Today’s owl comes from the southern spiny forests of Madagascar. As you can see, the owl blends in well with its thorny environment. It’s called the Malagasy scops owl, but also answers to the rainforest scops owl or the Madagascar scops owl.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 100, f/5.6 at 0.5 seconds

I figured an animated gif might be the best way to illustrate the changing colors of a short horned chameleon (also known as an elephant eared chameleon). The first shot, when the chameleon was a nice colorful blue and green, was how I first encountered the animal on a night hike in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park. The next two shots show how the color of the skin quickly turned to brown as the chameleon reacted to my presence and flash. This change happened almost immediately as the shots were all taken within thirty seconds.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 80mm) ISO 200, f/22 at 1/60th of a second (-0.33 ev)

The western woolly lemur is listed as endangered due to its very limited habitat. It is confined to a small area of dry forest in western Madagascar — and even within this small area, suitable habitat is very fragmented. They mostly live in Ankarafantsika National Park, where I saw this young western woolly on a night hike back in 2007.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus lens, ISO 320, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash

Here’s another shot that I never posted to the blog, although it’s been in my “Madagascar” gallery for a while. This is a mother Coquerel’s sifaka and her baby. Most baby lemurs are born in the fall. These guys are an exception and are born in June and July. This one was about two weeks old. It was very difficult photographing these babies. First of all there weren’t many of them, but also, the mothers were very protective and kept them tucked away and out of sight. Even though I was quite far away with a 600mm lens, if they saw me, they’d shift to hide the baby and retreat into the middle of a large tree. This shot was a finalist last year in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year competition in the endangered species category, but ultimately it didn’t make the show.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second

Seems like as good a day as any to post a lemur. This particular guy is an eastern grey bamboo lemur and I spotted him in central Madagascar in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. There are several species of bamboo lemurs, or as they are also known, gentle lemurs. They get their name due to the fact that they primarily eat bamboo. It is unknown, however, how they detoxify the high level of cyanide that is found in bamboo.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 120mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/125th of a second

It’s been a real long time since my last insect posting. I know most of you prefer feathers and fur to exoskeletons, but I figured it was high time we gave a shout out to our invertebrate friends. And what better bug is there than the giraffe weevil? This guy is native to Madagascar and aptly named as you can see. The males have the long, giraffe-like necks while the females have a much shorter neck. Hope you like it, but if not, tomorrow I promise something much more cuddly.

There are more than fifty different species of lemur in Madagascar, of all shapes, sizes and colors. About half of them are nocturnal. This is a crowned lemur — an average sized diurnal lemur. The name is an obvious reference to the reddish crown on the forehead. This individual is a female. Males have the exact opposite coloration (reddish body with a grey crown), a characteristic known as sexual dimorphism.

The Madagascar flying fox isn’t a fox at all — it’s a bat. But it is the largest bat in Madagascar with a wingspan of more than four feet. I was in the extreme southern part of the country when I came across a bunch of flying foxes early in the morning. They were just coming in to roost for the day after a night of foraging for fruits, flowers, figs and leaves.

This one is from my trip to Madagascar back in 2007. Of all the lemurs (53 different species depending upon who’s doing the counting) the ring-tailed is perhaps the best known. They’re latin name is Lemur Catta — appropriate because they meow somewhat like a cat. This one was either waving to say hello, or telling me to get the camera out of her face.