This is a black and white ruffed lemur. This species was probably the most mischievous of all the lemurs I saw in Madagascar. On several occasions, I witnessed one of these guys moving in for a sneak attack on another species. This photo was taken on an island for rescued lemurs (appropriatey named Lemur Island) near the town of Perinet.
This little red-bellied lemur was very curious and allowed me to get close with a wide angle lens. I was in the town of Tamatave at a zoological park called Ivoloina. In addition to housing captive lemurs, Ivoloina is home to several species of free ranging lemurs that come and go as they please (including the red-bellied).
I photographed this warty chameleon in southern Madagascar at a place called Berenty Reserve. I guess the name comes from the warts on the casque on the top of its head. This was actually the first chameleon that I saw after being in the country for several days. I was getting worried I wouldn’t see any. Fortunately, I was wrong about that as I went on to see more than different species in the next 10 days.
The golden brown mouse lemur is highly endangered and I was very lucky to not only see one on this particular night hike, but to have it appear out of the thick forest for just long enough to get a couple of pictures. True to the name, they aren’t much bigger than a mouse, making them one of the smallest primates on the planet. They live in the dry western forests of Madagascar and are strictly nocturnal.
Here is another shot of a fanaloka, one of the few larger mammals that I saw in Madagascar that wasn’t a lemur. They are nocturnal and very secretive but at Ranomafana National Park in central Madagascar, they come creeping around a picnic area looking for leftover scraps. Fanalokas are the size of a large housecat and they resemble a fox, but they are more closely related to the mongoose.
The ringtail lemurs that live in southern Madagascar like to sit in the sand and sunbathe on nice mornings. I caught some good light on this guy when he took a quick look back to see what I was doing. One of the things that I really liked about Berenty Private Reserve (where this photo was taken) is that it’s one of the few places in Madagascar where you can hike through the forest without having to be accompanied by a guide. This is because it is privately owned. At all the national run parks, it is mandatory that you be with a guide. Ordinarily, I think this is a good thing because the guides can show you things that you would miss on your own, but there’s something nice about being alone in a forest — just you and the animals.
This photo was taken near the grounds of a hotel I was staying at in Maroantsetra, Madagascar. Panther chameleons (Furcifer paradalis) can grow to up to 17 inches in length. Their coloring varies depending on which region of Madagascar they live in. The females are primarily orange, although the colors of both sexes changes depending upon many factors.
Milne Edwards’ sportive lemurs live in the dry western forests of Madagascar. This one was photographed in a place called Ankarafantsika National Park. Sportive lemurs are nocturnal, but I got lucky when this guy popped its head out of its night time resting place just as I hiked by.
This lemur is called a diademed sifaka and it was photographed in central Madagascar near the town of Perinet. I was on an island in the middle of a large lake where lemurs rescued from poachers, injury and habitat loss roam freely. They are quite habituated to people and I was able to lay on my back and photograph this one with a wide angle lens as he hung just above me. There are several other species of lemur on the island, including red fronted brown lemurs, common brown lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs and bamboo lemurs. This was the only diademed sifaka on the island but I saw and photographed a few more in the surrounding national park. With their deep red eyes and golden and black coats they really are one of the more interesting looking creatures in a country of interesting looking creatures.
I was staying in the town of Maroantsetra on the north east coast of Madagascar. This was merely a stopover point before taking a boat over to the Masoala Peninsula, but due to bad weather I was stranded in Maroantsetra for a couple of nights. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, I spent a day walking the grounds of the Rulais du Masoala hotel, and its nearby forests, looking for whatever wildlife I could find.
Unlike most tree frogs that are nocturnal, many of Madagascar’s 300 plus species, including the Madagascar reed frog, can be found during the day. When these frogs mature they turn a beautiful light blue and yellow, but as juveniles they are almost purely yellow, making the yellow pachypodium flower the perfect hiding place.