Google Madagascar, and the first thing that wants to come up is the animated film, or penguins. But, it's worth noting no actual penguins live in Madagascar. There is a story about a real-life penguin who must have taken a wrong turn and gotten lost there in the 1950's, but other than that, there are no Penguins of Madagascar.
The 100 species of Lemurs are the real animal stars of Madagascar. The island broke off of the African continent somewhere around 150 to 100 million years ago, isolating it from the rest of the world. Those lemurs? They're ONLY found in the wild in Madagascar. In fact, the reason lemurs have been able to thrive in Madagascar is because no other primates inhabit the island.
But lemurs aren't the only species unique to Madagascar, because of all the endemic animals and plants of Madagascar, many scientists refer to Madagascar as 'the 8th continent'. Of the 250,00 unique species found in Madagascar, 70% is found nowhere else.
The Fossa looks like a cat, and is related to the Mongoose. They live in trees and weigh around 20 pounds.
The Aye-Aye is a tiny little ugly lemur, and only weighs about 5 pounds fully grown. It has a long narrow middle finger for finding grubs in trees.
The Indri is also a lemur- but it is the largest of them all. They're monogamous and only find a new partner when they become a widow.
The Sifaka is a lemur who gets their name because it's the sound they make. It's an onomatopoeic animal that gets around like a kangaroo in trees!
There's the Tomato Frogs that look like- you guessed it- a tomato. When they are threatened, they puff their body up twice their size and secrete a snotty glue like substance that make their predators eyes and lips stick together.
There's also the rainbow chameleons that changes it colors depending on how it feels, and its surroundings. In fact, almost half the world's species of animals can be found on Madagascar.
Animals aren't the only thing unique to the island. Of the 14,000 plants native to Madagascar 90% are found nowhere else in the world.
Our landmark isn't endemic to Madagascar, but it make it no less impressive. The Alley of the Baobabs, known locally as Renala ('Mother of the Forrest') is a prominent group of Baobab trees lining the dirt road between two towns in western Madagascar. It's striking landscape draws travelers from around the world, and as such it's one of the most visited places in Madagascar.
There are 25 of the 98 foot tall Baobab trees along the dirt road. These trees are impressive for their ability to hold vast amounts of water in the trunks (something like 26,000 gallons), and their longevity (800 years old-- at least!)
It's Africa's tree of life. But, you don't have to go to Africa to see one (or at least a replica one- there's one in Kilimanjaro Safari's at Disney's Animal Kingdom!)
Another big plant of Madagascar, though not unique to the island is Vanilla. The world's second most expensive spice in the world, is found in the seedpods of vanilla orchid. (Madagascar and Indonesia are the largest producers of vanilla).
Madagascar isn't just about it's unique plants and animals. Spread over it's 226,000 plus square miles is nearly 30 million Malagasy. (Yup, that's what you call someone from Madagascar- Malagasy).
There are over 20 ethnic groups divided mostly by where they live: either the Highlanders (living in the middle of the island), or the Coastals (living, obviously on the coast).
The Malagasy people are among some of the poorest in the world. The average Malagasy makes around one US dollar per day, and 70% of the country is said to live below the poverty line. Some say it's a country that is poor- but not poor enough for aid (an old article, but still worth checking out).
Most of the country's economy is based on agriculture, and there are a couple of problems with this.
One, much of the forest, where you can find all those awesome animals and plants have been chopped down and burned to make way for farmers. Only about 10% of the forests of Madagascar remain from it's 'pre-human' state, and as the forest disappears, some of those plants and animals have gone extinct (somewhere around 18 species of lemurs alone).
But now, climate change induced droughts, and poor farming habits have led to having crappy soil. You think the price of vanilla is high now? Just wait.
The Malagasy, however, power through. They are fiercely patriotic, and believe family is central to life. They go about their day in their freeway-less country, getting around on their zebu-drawn carts, speaking Malagasy and French, using the internet (all be it slowly).
Life is much of what you'd expect from a developing nation who isn't too far off from experiencing coups. But that doesn't stop the people from remaining friendly and warm-hearted. .
The boys made their postcards for the second largest island nation (Indonesia is the first), and the fourth largest island overall.
Calib's postcard included lemurs and Baobab trees.
Peyton noted the red tomato frog, and the baobab trees.
And Hayden drew a dirt road for the Alley of the Baobabs.
For our Madagascar meal we had Madagascar Meatloaf (although in Madagascar it is probably made with zebu- ours was just ground beef!) Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole, Madagascar Fruit Salad, carrots (I had some spinach thing- but then apparently the tortoise at all my spinach- yes, that's a thing in my house), and Malagasy Fruity Clafouti (Cherry Custard) for dessert.
This meal (that doesn't photograph that well) earned four spoons up....
...and I'm upset about that. In fact it was one of our favorites. Everyone raved about it... except.... guesses anyone? Yup, Peyton.
Everyone else said 'just make it five spoons up!' but, what would the integratey of my spoons system be if I lied for the sake of the heavenly meatloaf and delcious fruit salad.
Even Asa didn't complain about the sweet potatoes (although we did use a mix of sweet and Idaho- we feel like that helps people like the sweet potatoes a little more.)
Anyway, make this one. Unless you have any really picky eaters (see: Peyton), you're family will like this one. And make extra sauce to pour over that meatloaf. You're going to want it.
We colored Madagascar in teal, just off the coast of dark purple Mozambique.
That's 182 down, FOURTEEN to go!
Next Up: Canada
No comments:
Post a Comment