Project developments in Madagascar!

As a conservation charity, we work in nine countries, across four continents.

We direct 20 field conservation projects with over 30 local partner organisations to conserve and protect some of the world’s most threatened species. We also care for a number of these threatened species at Bristol Zoo Project, contributing to 50 co-ordinated breeding programmes, as well as animal health and welfare research.

As part of our Reverse the Red pledge, which we have pledged to protect and conserve 86 target species, we champion six flagship species, two of those being part of our conservation projects in Madagascar, the blue-eyed black lemur and Ankarafa skeleton frog. Paige Bwye, Lecturer in Conservation Science and Project Manager for the Society’s Northern Madagascar Conservation Programme, recently took a trip to meet with in-country project partners and shares some exciting project developments.

At the end of last year, I embarked on my first visit to our project site in Madagascar. The trip aimed to provide project assurance, identify and undertake staff training, and allow in-person meetings with our team, local non-governmental organisation partner AEECL (the Lemur Conservation Association), as well as the communities of Sahamalaza.

We flew into Antananarivo, the capital city, and after a couple of days driving North, we arrived at AEECL’s office in Antsohihy. Here, we held our first meeting to discuss recent and upcoming activities. Bristol Zoological Society is a major stakeholder in AEECL, with Board Member representation. These meetings enable communication with AEECL staff, which can be relayed back to the Board. It was also exciting to learn about the higher education scholarships AEECL is supporting to enhance healthcare access for communities in need.

After stocking up on supplies, we continued the drive to our project site, Sahamalaza-Iles Radama National Park, in northwest Madagascar. We stayed at the Tourist Camp site in Ankarafa, which offers stunning views of the national park and has a shower and toilet!. This site aims to attract more tourists in the future, providing income to support AEECL’s activities. The site also has a permanent presence of AEECL guides who conduct biodiversity monitoring surveys with BZS’s biodiversity monitoring lead, Deborah, in Ankarafa forest. They warmly greeted us and showed us around.

Thirty minutes from camp is our co-funded Ankarafa Field Station, which is now nearing completion. It was great to see the building work progress and discuss the remaining work needed before its official opening. This facility will support our local biodiversity monitoring teams and host international researchers to facilitate more conservation activities in the national park. Adjacent to the field station, we surveyed established transects for lemurs - spotting blue-eyed black lemurs during the day and Sahamalaza sportive lemurs at night.

We introduced new ultraviolet light, temperature, and humidity recorders to the guides, enhancing our understanding of the environmental needs of the blue-eyed black lemur. Over time, this data will help us provide informed guidance on how to house the species in captivity. Participating in these surveys was especially useful to my role in the programme, to understand and manage our biodiversity monitoring efforts effectively.

We also conducted amphibian surveys and were thrilled to see our focal species, the Ankarafa skeleton frog, which was originally identified by Bristol Zoological Society’s very own Dr Sam Penny. With little research on amphibians in the national park in recent years, it was exciting to deploy acoustic equipment to collect data for University of Bristol MRes student Leo Lasrado, who is supervised and supported by the Society, and is currently in the field. We created amphibian identification guides to allow objective species identification based on size, colour, and specific features, such as the amount of webbing between their toes! Trained guides have supported Leo in recent months, marking the first extensive amphibian surveys in a decade to determine the current presence and distribution of frogs in the national park.

In addition to biodiversity monitoring, we participated in phenology surveys, tracking 20 tree species, including seven that are being grown in our tree nurseries, to assess growth and climate resilience over time. We also engaged with three nearby villages, where AEECL promotes lemur and forest education through school activities. AEECL visits six schools annually and recently celebrated International Women’s Day with local communities.

On our way to Anabohazo, the second remaining forest fragment in the national park, we visited our community-led nurseries where we grow around 15,000 seedlings each year. Our nursery manager, Fally, showed us the techniques they had been using for shading young plants to improve survival rates before they receive full sun exposure. We also observed reforested plants from previous years between fragmented gallery forests. While plant growth is slow in Madagascar due to nutrient-poor soil, the medium-term survival of these plants is encouraging and will help create a forest corridor connecting habitats that support our focal lemur and amphibian species in the future.

Before our long journey back to Antananarivo, we visited the beautiful Anabohazo forest. I met the Anabohazo biodiversity monitoring team, and after a few hours hike, was rewarded with sightings of a scorpion. We also observed a fat-tailed dwarf lemur, which is special as these are one of the very few primates that hibernate for long periods of time. Of the five lemur species resident in the national park, we only missed the elusive Sambirano mouse lemur, motivating me for my next visit!

Although Ankarafa and Anabohazo were historically connected areas, suggesting that many species may overlap between these forests, our recent visit reinforces previous findings by Dr Sam Penny, indicating that some micro-endemics, such as the Ankarafa Skeleton frog, may be limited to single areas within these forests. This highlights the importance of Bristol Zoological Society’s continued presence to deter illegal activities that threaten the survival of this species. As our master’s student, Leo, wraps up in Madagascar, we look forward to sharing exciting frog updates soon!

Find out more information about our impactful project in Madagascar, as well as our other conservation efforts below.