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15 - Lemur Hunting in Madagascar’s Present and Past
- from Part III - Africa
- Edited by Bernardo Urbani, Dionisios Youlatos, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Andrzej T. Antczak, Universiteit Leiden
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- Book:
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Published online:
- 03 August 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 August 2022, pp 393-416
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Summary
Pachylemur is a large extinct lemur once widespread on Madagascar that survived in pockets until at least 500 years ago. The role of humans as agents of megafaunal extinction on Madagascar is heavily debated. Here we evaluate human impacts drawing from research on lemur hunting today combined with evidence from Madagascar’s oral history as well as its archaeological and paleontological records. Living lemurs are hunted throughout Madagascar, primarily for subsistence but also for commercial trade. Wildlife consumption is driven primarily by poverty and resultant food insecurity. Protected status, wildlife consumption taboos, and broad preference for domestic meats appear insufficient to buffer most lemur taxa from extinction at current harvest rates in the Makira region, if not elsewhere. Single-factor explanations for megafaunal extinction, such as rapid overkill or climate change, are not viable. There was long temporal overlap for Pachylemur and humans on Madagascar. There was no island-wide drought when the megafauna began to crash around 1,200 years ago; some parts of Madagascar were unusually wet while others were unusually dry. Stable isotope (δ15N) values for radiocarbon-dated Pachylemur bones also show no evidence that aridification contributed to its demise. Butchered bones of Pachylemur from the paleontological site Tsirave spike in frequency just over 1,000 years ago, indicative of sustained exploitation over a ~100-year period. Pachylemur shared many traits with its closest living relative, variegated lemurs (Varecia), including frugivory. Oral histories of an animal presumed to be Pachylemur indicate it dwelt in the largest trees in the forest, was active at twilight, and exhibited highly aggressive antipredator behavior. Like Varecia, Pachylemur was likely dependent on large, patchily distributed trees for fruit, and possibly also for reproduction (e.g. to nest and stash non-clinging young), making it especially vulnerable to habitat degradation. We thus conclude that both habitat degradation and hunting played a role in the extinction of Pachylemur.
Key wordsBushmeat, Lemurs, Extinction, Pachylemur, Varecia, Subfossils
Subfossil lemur discoveries from the Beanka Protected Area in western Madagascar
- David A. Burney, Haingoson Andriamialison, Radosoa A. Andrianaivoarivelo, Steven Bourne, Brooke E. Crowley, Erik J. de Boer, Laurie R. Godfrey, Steven M. Goodman, Christine Griffiths, Owen Griffiths, Julian P. Hume, Walter G. Joyce, William L. Jungers, Stephanie Marciniak, Gregory J. Middleton, Kathleen M. Muldoon, Eliette Noromalala, Ventura R. Pérez, George H. Perry, Roger Randalana, Henry T. Wright
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- Journal:
- Quaternary Research / Volume 93 / January 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 02 October 2019, pp. 187-203
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A new fossil site in a previously unexplored part of western Madagascar (the Beanka Protected Area) has yielded remains of many recently extinct vertebrates, including giant lemurs (Babakotia radofilai, Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Pachylemur sp., and Archaeolemur edwardsi), carnivores (Cryptoprocta spelea), the aardvark-like Plesiorycteropus sp., and giant ground cuckoos (Coua). Many of these represent considerable range extensions. Extant species that were extirpated from the region (e.g., Prolemur simus) are also present. Calibrated radiocarbon ages for 10 bones from extinct primates span the last three millennia. The largely undisturbed taphonomy of bone deposits supports the interpretation that many specimens fell in from a rock ledge above the entrance. Some primates and other mammals may have been prey items of avian predators, but human predation is also evident. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) suggest that fossils were local to the area. Pottery sherds and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates with cut and chop marks indicate human activity in previous centuries. Scarcity of charcoal and human artifacts suggests only occasional visitation to the site by humans. The fossil assemblage from this site is unusual in that, while it contains many sloth lemurs, it lacks ratites, hippopotami, and crocodiles typical of nearly all other Holocene subfossil sites on Madagascar.
AMS 14C Dates for Extinct Lemurs from Caves in the Ankarana Massif, Northern Madagascar
- Elwyn L. Simons, David A. Burney, Prithijit S. Chatrath, Laurie R. Godfrey, William L. Jungers, Berthe Rakotosamimanana
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- Journal:
- Quaternary Research / Volume 43 / Issue 2 / March 1995
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 January 2017, pp. 249-254
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An extensive late Quaternary fauna, including many extinct giant lemurs, has been collected recently in a 110+-km system of caves in the Ankarana Massif of northern Madagascar. AMS 14C dates for the acid-insoluble (collagen/gelatin) fraction of bones of the giant lemur Megaladapis (26,150 ± 400 and 12,760 ± 70 yr B.P.) confirm its presence in the area during the late Pleistocene and provide the first Pleistocene 14 C ages from bones of the extinct megafauna of the island. The first date from bones of the recently described extinct Babakotia radofilai (4400 ± 60 yr B.P.) shows that it was present in northern Madagascar in mid-Holocene times. A comparatively recent age of 1020 ± 50 yr B.P. for the extinct Archaeolemur indicates survival of this genus for at least a millennium after the first direct evidence for humans in Madagascar. This suggests that the island's "extinction window" may have represented a longer time span than would have been expected under the Blitzkrieg model of late Quaternary extinctions. A mid-Holocene age (4560 ± 70 yr B.P.) for a bone sample of the small extant lemur Hapalemur simus indicates that the disappearance of this now-restricted species from the Ankarana occurred after this date. New data from the Ankarana and other sites on the island add to the consensus that major biotic changes occurred on Madagascar in the late Holocene.
13 - Living in riverine and xeric forests: Microcebus griseorufus at Beza Mahafaly, southwestern Madagascar
- from Part III - Cheirogaleidae: behavior and ecology
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- By Emilienne Rasoazanabary, Stony Brook University, USA, Laurie R. Godfrey, University of Massachusetts, USA
- Edited by Shawn M. Lehman, University of Toronto, Ute Radespiel, Elke Zimmermann
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- Book:
- The Dwarf and Mouse Lemurs of Madagascar
- Published online:
- 05 March 2016
- Print publication:
- 07 April 2016, pp 255-280
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Summary
Introduction
Twenty-one species of mouse lemurs are now recognized in Madagascar (Radespiel et al., 2012; Rasoloarison et al., 2013). They live in a wide variety of habitats, from the xerophytic forests of the south and southwest (Yoder et al., 2002; Rasoazanabary, 2004; Génin, 2008, Kobbe and Dausmann, 2009) to the dry deciduous forests of the west and north (Ganzhorn and Schmid, 1998; Schmid and Kappeler, 1998; Zimmermann et al., 1998), and to the low-, mid-, and high-altitude rainforests of the east (Atsalis, 1999; Lahann et al., 2006; Radespiel et al., 2008, 2012; Gligor et al., 2009; Blanco, 2011). Mouse lemurs do not live in high-altitude Erica-dominated heathland.
The xerophytic (or “spiny”) forests of southwestern Madagascar are some of the driest and most seasonal environments in all of Madagascar (Ratsirarson et al., 2001; Fenn, 2003; Génin, 2008; Kamilar and Muldoon, 2010). Dewar and Richard (2007) give it high marks for “unpredictability” – both in terms of month-to-month and year-to-year variation. Succulent, dry-loving plants belonging to the families Didiereaceae and Euphorbiaceae dominate the xerophytic bush of the Spiny Thicket Ecoregion (Fenn, 2003; Burgess et al., 2004). Only one species of mouse lemur thrives in these habitats, Microcebus griseorufus.
Among the western mouse lemur species, Microcebus murinus is the best studied. It has a broad geographic distribution and has been hailed as wide-niched. It lives in sympatry with other mouse lemur species that appear to have much narrower habitat preferences, including M. bongolavensis in the north (Radespiel et al., 2008), M. ravelobensis in the northwestern dry deciduous forest of Ampijoroa (Zimmermann et al., 1998), and M. berthae in the western dry deciduous forest of Kirindy (Schmid and Kappeler, 1994; Schwab and Ganzhorn, 2004). It also lives in sympatry with M. griseorufus in the southern dry forest of Berenty (Yoder et al., 2002) and the southeastern humid forest at Andohahela (Rakotondranary and Ganzhorn, 2011). At Kirindy, M. murinus prefers the moister forest habitats bordering the Kirindy River (Yoder et al., 2002; Rasoazanabary, 2006), and at Berenty Private Reserve, it avoids xerophytic forest (Yoder et al., 2002). In southeastern Madagascar, there is evidence of hybridization between M. griseorufus and M. murinus in the transitional forest corridor connecting the xerophytic forests (with M. griseorufus) located west of Ampihamy to the wetter littoral forests (with M. murinus) located east of Sarikady (Gligor et al., 2009).