By Jean Joseph Rabearivelo High School, Antananarivo

MADAGASCAR is an island located 400 km East of Africa and is rich in flora and fauna. After being separated from the Afro-American continent, after geological times, it ended up with big gatherings of endemic animals, which means animals that you can only find in Madagascar. That is why we propose that you discover the fauna of this island.
It has got an exceptional percentage of specific animals : lemurs (whose 5 families only exist on the Red Island), maki catta (lemurs with long tails), bats (28 species of flying mammals), fosas (animals the size of a dog, they are the biggest of the 4 carnivores on the island), whales (mammals located next to Sainte-Marie island between July and September), 250 species of birds (ducks and prey birds), including 75 aquatic species (king fishers).
However these animals are in danger due to people hunting them for their meet, skin and feathers, due to bush fires to improve cultures, due to diseases as there are no vaccines or treatments and due to fishing for aquatic animals.
In order to fight against these dangers, the Malagasy Nation has decided to find places to protect them, such as national parks (Isalo, Tsimbazaza, etc …) and specific natural reserves. That is why associations were created, to help the Nation to feed them and treat them well, as they deserve it : the ANGAP (National Association for Managing the Protected Areas), created in 1990 and the WWF (World Wide Fund of Nature).
Malagasy fauna is therefore exceptional by its originality, and from what we saw, we can say that Madagascar is rich in fauna.