Animals of Madagascar: Lemurs, Fossa and Other Unique Species

Why is Madagascar’s wildlife so unique?

Madagascar is the world’s fourth-largest island, covering about 587,000 km² (227,000 sq mi), and it lies roughly 400 km (250 mi) off the coast of Mozambique. It separated from Africa around 135 million years ago as part of a landmass that also included India, then split from India about 88 million years ago. Since then, its animals have evolved in isolation.

Many animal groups never reached the island. There are no native monkeys, apes, cats, dogs, antelopes, zebras or elephants. Instead, a few ancestors that drifted across the sea, probably on rafts of floating vegetation, gave rise to whole families found nowhere else. One lemur ancestor became more than 100 species, and one tenrec ancestor produced animals that look like shrews, moles and hedgehogs. Scientists call this kind of rapid branching “adaptive radiation.”

Madagascar wildlife at a glance

1. Ring-tailed lemur

The ring-tailed lemur is the island’s best-known animal, with a black-and-white banded tail longer than its body: 56–63 cm (22–25 in) of tail on a 39–46 cm (15–18 in) body. Adults weigh about 2.2 kg (4.9 lb). It lives in troops of up to about 30 animals in the dry forests and spiny thickets of the south and southwest.

Females are dominant over males, which is common among lemurs. Males hold “stink fights,” rubbing scent from wrist glands onto their tails and waving them at rivals. Ring-tailed lemurs also spend more time on the ground than most lemurs and like to sunbathe, sitting upright with their pale bellies turned to the morning sun. Although more than 2,000 live in zoos, the species is Endangered in the wild.

2. Indri

The indri is one of the two largest living lemurs, weighing 6–9.5 kg (13–21 lb), and the only one with just a stub of a tail. Family groups live in the eastern rainforests and sing loud, eerie songs that last from under a minute to more than three minutes, helping neighboring groups keep their distance. The indri is Critically Endangered.

3. Aye-aye

The aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal primate and one of the strangest. It taps on branches with a long, skinny middle finger, listens for hollow tunnels where beetle grubs are hiding, gnaws through the wood with ever-growing front teeth and hooks the grub out. In some villages the aye-aye is considered a bad omen and killed on sight, which adds to the threat from forest loss. It is listed as Endangered.

4. Sifakas

Sifakas are large lemurs that leap between upright tree trunks, pushing off with powerful hind legs. On open ground they move by hopping sideways on their hind legs with arms raised, a gait often described as dancing. There are nine species. Verreaux’s sifaka of the southern and western forests, shown above, has white fur and a dark face and has been Critically Endangered since 2020.

5. Mouse and dwarf lemurs

At the other end of the scale are mouse lemurs. Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur weighs about 30 g (1.1 oz) and is the smallest primate in the world. Their relatives, the dwarf lemurs, include the fat-tailed dwarf lemur, which stores fat in its tail and spends up to seven months a year in a tree hole. It was the first primate known to hibernate; see more in animals that hibernate. Like the aye-aye, these tiny lemurs feature in our list of nocturnal animals.

6. Fossa

The fossa is Madagascar’s largest native carnivore. It looks like a small cougar, with a body 70–80 cm (28–31 in) long, a tail almost as long again and a weight of about 5.5–8.6 kg (12–19 lb). Despite its cat-like look, its closest relatives are the mongooses.

Fossas climb as well as they run, using flexible ankles and semi-retractable claws to chase lemurs through the trees. Lemurs make up more than half of their diet, along with tenrecs, rodents, lizards and birds. The fossa is listed as Vulnerable, mainly because of habitat loss.

7. Tenrecs

Tenrecs are a family of about 30 species of small mammals found only in Madagascar. Some look like shrews, one swims like an otter shrew, and the hedgehog tenrecs have spines and roll into a ball, even though they are not related to true hedgehogs. The common tenrec can give birth to as many as 32 young in a litter, one of the largest litters of any mammal.

The lowland streaked tenrec, striped in black and yellow, is one of the very few mammals known to communicate by stridulation. It rubs together special quills on its back to make a high-pitched sound, probably to keep mothers and young in touch.

8. Panther chameleon

The panther chameleon lives in the north and northeast of Madagascar and is one of the most colorful lizards in the world. Males are larger and brighter than females, and their colors vary from place to place, from turquoise and green to red and orange. Like other chameleons, it changes color mainly to signal to other chameleons and to control its temperature, catches insects with a long, fast tongue and moves its eyes independently. It is listed as Least Concern.

9. Parson’s chameleon

Parson’s chameleon is usually considered the heaviest chameleon in the world, reaching up to about 65 cm (26 in) in total length. It lives in the humid eastern rainforests, moves slowly and spends much of its time high in the trees. Females bury clutches of 20 to 60 eggs in the ground. It is listed as Near Threatened.

10. Nano-chameleon

In 2021 scientists described Brookesia nana, a chameleon from a single patch of forest in northern Madagascar. Adult males are only about 22 mm (0.9 in) long including the tail, small enough to sit on a fingertip, which may make it the smallest known reptile. Madagascar is also home to dozens of other tiny leaf chameleons that live in the leaf litter.

11. Leaf-tailed geckos

The leaf-tailed geckos of the genus Uroplatus are masters of disguise. By day they rest head-down against tree trunks, their flattened bodies, skin flaps and bark-colored patterns making them nearly invisible. The satanic leaf-tailed gecko goes further, with a tail shaped like a dead, nibbled leaf. The largest species, the giant leaf-tailed gecko, reaches about 30 cm (12 in). All are nocturnal and endemic to Madagascar.

12. Tomato frog

The tomato frog of northeastern Madagascar is bright orange-red, a warning that it is unpleasant to eat. When threatened it puffs itself up and releases a sticky white secretion that can glue a predator’s mouth shut for a while. Females are much larger than males, reaching up to about 10.5 cm (4.1 in). It is listed as Least Concern, though collection for the pet trade and habitat damage have reduced some populations. Almost all of Madagascar’s frogs are found nowhere else.

13. Radiated and ploughshare tortoises

The radiated tortoise of the dry south has a high, dark shell covered in yellow star patterns. The ploughshare tortoise, or angonoka, lives only in a small area of northwestern Madagascar and is among the rarest tortoises on Earth. Both are Critically Endangered, mainly because of poaching for the illegal pet trade and for food.

14. Birds: vangas, couas and the lost elephant birds

About 300 bird species have been recorded in Madagascar, and more than half of the breeding species are endemic. Vangas are a family of birds whose bills evolved into many shapes, from the huge blue bill of the helmet vanga to the long curved bill of the sickle-billed vanga. Couas are colorful ground and tree cuckoos with bare blue skin around their eyes.

Madagascar was once home to the elephant birds, giant flightless birds that laid the largest eggs known from any bird. They died out several centuries ago, most likely because people hunted them and collected their eggs.

Threats to Madagascar’s wildlife

Madagascar’s wildlife is among the most threatened on Earth. According to the IUCN, about 98% of lemur species are threatened with extinction, and around a third are Critically Endangered, making lemurs the most endangered group of mammals. Read more in why are lemurs endangered?

The main threat is habitat loss. Forests are cleared for slash-and-burn farming, cut for charcoal and timber, and damaged by fires, and roughly 40% of the island’s forest cover was lost between the 1950s and 2000. Hunting for bushmeat, illegal logging of precious woods such as rosewood, and the illegal trade in tortoises, chameleons and frogs add to the pressure, along with a changing climate.

There is hope. Madagascar has expanded its protected areas, and six eastern parks form the Rainforests of the Atsinanana World Heritage Site. Wildlife tourism to parks and reserves such as Andasibe-Mantadia, Ranomafana, Isalo and Kirindy brings income to local communities and gives people a strong reason to keep the forests standing.