Madagascar- Masoala National Park, Diversity of

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ambience: Madagascar Rainforest

Madagascar is famous for the remarkable variety of wildlife and plants that’s found there. Since 1997, Masoala Park has been helping to preserve those species. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Located on a peninsula in northeast Madagascar, Masoala Park includes both marine and forest habitats.

“This is really one of these fantastic places where you can go snorkeling on a coral reef and then go and walk into the forest straight off the beach, which is really incredible.”

James MacKinnon is with the Wildlife Conservation Society. He’s technical advisor for Masoala National Park.

“We estimate that something like fifty percent of all the species in Madagascar are found in and around Masoala. Particularly for plants, it’s well-known to be very important. Palms, for example, something like fifteen percent of all the worlds’ palm species are found in this area. The incredible diversity of orchids, everything really, from frogs right up to lemurs – – we see a fantastic diversity of species. And I would say that every single group of researchers that’s come through has found something new. There was a big scientific expedition just a couple of years ago, that we’re still actually waiting on quite a lot of the results from, but there’s some very exciting things that came out of their research, which was done up in the canopy of Masoala. I had an experience just a few months ago where there was a chameleon researcher here and I showed him a photo of a chameleon that I had actually taken a few years ago, and I just thought that I didn’t really know my chameleons, and so couldn’t identify it, and he sort of looked at it and said, ‘Yes, that’s a new species.’ So there really are a lot of things still to discover out there, both in the forest, and the sea as well.”

We’ll hear more about Madagascar in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

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Madagascar- Masoala National Park, Diversity of

Masoala National Park in Madagascar is a small piece of paradise and an important home to many plant and animal species.
Air Date:07/06/2004
Scientist:
Transcript:

music
ambience: Madagascar Rainforest

Madagascar is famous for the remarkable variety of wildlife and plants that's found there. Since 1997, Masoala Park has been helping to preserve those species. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Located on a peninsula in northeast Madagascar, Masoala Park includes both marine and forest habitats.

"This is really one of these fantastic places where you can go snorkeling on a coral reef and then go and walk into the forest straight off the beach, which is really incredible."

James MacKinnon is with the Wildlife Conservation Society. He's technical advisor for Masoala National Park.

"We estimate that something like fifty percent of all the species in Madagascar are found in and around Masoala. Particularly for plants, it's well-known to be very important. Palms, for example, something like fifteen percent of all the worlds' palm species are found in this area. The incredible diversity of orchids, everything really, from frogs right up to lemurs - - we see a fantastic diversity of species. And I would say that every single group of researchers that's come through has found something new. There was a big scientific expedition just a couple of years ago, that we're still actually waiting on quite a lot of the results from, but there's some very exciting things that came out of their research, which was done up in the canopy of Masoala. I had an experience just a few months ago where there was a chameleon researcher here and I showed him a photo of a chameleon that I had actually taken a few years ago, and I just thought that I didn't really know my chameleons, and so couldn't identify it, and he sort of looked at it and said, 'Yes, that’s a new species.' So there really are a lot of things still to discover out there, both in the forest, and the sea as well."

We'll hear more about Madagascar in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.

music