• Question: What's the weirdest mammal yup found in madagascar?

    Asked by niamhbrien to Sive on 13 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 13 Nov 2013:


      Hi Niamh,

      I haven’t been to Madagascar myself yet but I’m looking forward to going next year and hopefully meeting lots of weird animals. Madagascar has lots of unusual creatures which live nowhere else in the world so it’s hard to pick just one weird one. Sifakas are very cute – they’re a type of lemur which are black and white and move across the ground by jumping on their long back legs. People used to think they were ghosts because they looked so strange moving through the forest. Fossas are also pretty incredible – they’re a large carnivore a bit like a mongoose and one of the main predators in Madagascar.
      Sucker-footed bats are pretty weird too – they have suction pads on the ends of their wrists and ankles which they use to cling onto the surface of leaves.
      One of the weirdest Madagascar mammals though are the lowland streaked tenrecs. They’re small and spiny and have an area of specialised spines on their backs which they rub together to produce sounds!
      Do you know of any other weird Madagascar mammals?
      Sive

Comments