O Madagascar: Sacred Beach Lemurs 2010

[YmoBeThere]

Did you give in and try the Milk Sheik?

[devildeac]

Did you give in and try the Milk Sheik?

If he had some chicken with it, would it be called Sheik and Bake?

[Miles]

Did you give in and try the Milk Sheik?

If he had some chicken with it, would it be called Sheik and Bake?

[YmoBeThere]

No internet access this week it appears...

[Lavabe]

Believe it or not, internet access was NOT the problem. It was the battery power on my laptop. I have two batteries. That gave me a scant 180 minutes of power. The question becomes HOW to recharge the computer.

Having said that, I will not be working at the sacred beach site again this summer... but that's the subject of a longer post.

I'm back in Antsiranana, a little dehydrated, recovering a bit.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Looking forward to the post, stay wet!

[Lavabe]

Looking forward to the post, stay wet!

G2 by Gatorade... the instant cure for dehydration (a double batch works very well). Grape... YUM!!

[TillyGalore]

I will not be working at the sacred beach site again this summer... but that's the subject of a longer post.

I'm back in Antsiranana, a little dehydrated, recovering a bit.

Hope you're rehydrated and feeling better soon. Sorry about the beach. Major ass bummer!!

[Lavabe]

I will not be working at the sacred beach site again this summer... but that's the subject of a longer post.

I'm back in Antsiranana, a little dehydrated, recovering a bit.

Hope you're rehydrated and feeling better soon. Sorry about the beach. Major ass bummer!!

I should have followed that with... "looks like I'll be with the British site."

As for the bummer part, it is. But that requires an explanation, which requires a little more info that I'll have on Monday.

As for major ass bummer, I know there's a redundancy in there. ;)

By the way, Jack Link's Beef Jerky is the cure for four straight days of beans and rice.

ALSO, I now weigh 232 pounds.

[Lavabe]

Review of the French (TF1) version of WHEEL OF FORTUNE:
No Vanna; instead you get a 6'2" blonde bombshell named Victoria who frequently flirts with the TV host, a 5'6" Parisian, who shares his emcee duties with his white-and-black dog (not really, but the dog follows him wherever he goes). The dog is often seen sleeping during the games. The biggest change from the American version is that the French version has an in-house band. The contestants dance their way in to the band.

As for Victoria, she plays a fairly ditzy Vanna who pretty much dances at nearly every moment.

All in all, a funny show, especially when compared with the American version.

[Lavabe]

So the fact of the matter is that last year, I found this one site where I had both species of lemurs that are of interest to me, crowned lemurs and Sanford's lemurs. I found a number of groups of both species, and they seemed remarkably easy to habituate (get them used to my presence). The site is a very dry deciduous forest, full of small trees (usually 15 feet or less in height), but also full of slightly larger tamarind trees, which the lemurs LOVE to eat. The forest is also protected informally by a number of local beliefs and traditions. From conversations in one of two neighboring towns, it was clear to me that these informal traditions, combined with the lack of prized hardwoods, made this site one that probably would be sustainable for research over a long time. The big problem was the lack of potable water on the site. On the other hand, the site was on a beach on the Mozambique Channel side of Madagascar, picturesque, and full of wildlife.

This year I set my sights on studying whether the lemurs behavior was any different in such a sacred forest.

We got to one of the nearby towns on Saturday evening, pitched tents, and met with local people on Sunday. After an hourlong discussion with a group of villagers who monitor the forest, we took a motorboat ride to the beach lemur site from 2009, set up camp, and listened for lemurs. Listening is more effective than just walking through the forest, as both species give distinct dusk calls. Lo and behold, LOADS of crowned lemurs, some even within meters of camp.

Not a single Sanford's lemur.

We (my assistant, a grad student, and I) spent much of the next day searching the 2km-long peninsula looking for Sanford's. Still no luck. Definitely not good.

My guide did some reconnaissance, and found one group on the southern end of the forest, closer to a small village. The trouble was, he said they acted very scared and frightened (they have characteristic behavior if they see a threat), and they ran off pretty quickly.

So Tuesday came around, and my guide had to leave for a couple of days while he took the student back to our city of operations, Antsiranana. I surveyed the morning where the guide found them. No luck. I surveyed the evening as well; still no luck. As light was getting scarce at about 545PM, I heard two short, but loud POPs about 300 meters away.

Gunfire. I quickly gathered my wits, abandoned the survey, and headed back to camp 1.3 km away. Now THAT would explain the lack of Sanford's lemurs. Gunfire.

Trouble is, the local towns don't have guns, and resupplying guns would be impossible in these towns. The only option would be for someone to have come into town with guns, assuming they could get a vehicle through some pretty sketchy roads that are essentially impassable at this time of year.

As the night began, at about 730PM, I heard from camp maybe 3km away, a car pull up to the region where I heard the gunfire. I then heard 2 honks of the horn. That was the last of anything I heard from that region that night.

When my guide came back two days later, he told me the following:
1) A military vehicle passed by the towns of the region maybe a week or so BEFORE we arrived at the site.
2) The same vehicle passed by when I did my survey.
3) Villagers reported that the people in the vehicle had been routinely during that time been hunting lemurs, killing them by using rifles. The sport hunters shot the lemurs and gave people the carcasses so that people could eat the meat. Sort of a "gift" before Malagasy independence day. In some cases, kids reported that some people were given lemurs to keep as pets. Most of the lemurs shot were Sanford's lemurs.
4) It also became apparent that the local people we had seen the other day were pretty reticent about talking with people from the city, including me. These people are unarmed, and were generally untrusting city folks, as their experiences with city folks included these people who routinely visited and used guns to shoot wildlife.

Let me stress that I am not against hunters, hunting, etc... I AM against the hunting of rare and endangered wildlife, which ALL species of lemurs really are.

The fact of the matter is that the study site is an UNPROTECTED forest, at least to authorities. I'll leave this story at this point so that you can think what the appropriate response should be. I'll then discuss what happened today in a series of meetings, and what were my ultimate actions on the matter.

In this case, there's no happy ending, as one of the rare species was effectively extirpated from the field site. And since the neighboring forest was largely deforested within the last 10 years, the situation is even more tragic.

What would you do in my shoes? Remember, I also have to think about conducting my study. And I am a guest in this country (but I have full authorization to work in this forest).

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I'd become drinking buddies with the base commander's boss and convince him that lemurs should be respected and left along, rather than be shot, so word would get to the soldiers that shooting them was a big no-no.

[Lavabe]

I'd become drinking buddies with the base commander's boss and convince him that lemurs should be respected and left along, rather than be shot, so word would get to the soldiers that shooting them was a big no-no.

I should point out that in one other forest I surveyed last year, local people blamed the military for shooting lemurs for sport.

I should also point out that Madagascar is currently in a political crisis in which it has no democratically-elected president in charge of the government in the capital, Antananarivo. The military have thrown their support behind a head of an High Transitional Authority, who is in charge of the government right now.

IMPORTANT POINT REGARDING THIS DISCUSSION: Let's refrain from using the word LASER in our discussion. That word is reserved for OVER YONDER.

[Lavabe]

Umm... THIS is not good news.

I have the toothache from HELL right now. I must see a dentist, STAT.

[Miles]

Umm... THIS is not good news.

I have the toothache from HELL right now. I must see a dentist, STAT.

Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I hope you can get it taken care of soon. Is there anything you can do? Any hopes of seeing a dentist?

[Lavabe]

Umm... THIS is not good news.

I have the toothache from HELL right now. I must see a dentist, STAT.

Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I hope you can get it taken care of soon. Is there anything you can do? Any hopes of seeing a dentist?

Got an appt. tomorrow 1130AM with a Dr. Diazon, who my colleague says is very good, because he was trained in Russia.
In the meantime, I'm pumping advil tonight.

[Lavabe]

I would KILL to have an appt. now with Dr. BimbHo (see CathyCA's discussion in LTE 2.0)!

[CathyCA]

I would KILL to have an appt. now with Dr. BimbHo (see CathyCA's discussion in LTE 2.0)!

I would like nothing more than to arrange a house call by Dr. BimbHo and her sister, Ho BimbHo and ExLax. I wonder how much a one-way ticket to Madagascar costs.

I hope your tooth feels better soon.

Maybe if you smashed your toe with a sledgehammer, the toothache pain would subside for a while.

[Miles]

Umm... THIS is not good news.

I have the toothache from HELL right now. I must see a dentist, STAT.

Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I hope you can get it taken care of soon. Is there anything you can do? Any hopes of seeing a dentist?

Got an appt. tomorrow 1130AM with a Dr. Diazon, who my colleague says is very good, because he was trained in Russia.
In the meantime, I'm pumping advil tonight.

I do not envy your position. Hope that the appointment with Dr. Diazon goes well and that you're all fixed up and lemuring around painfree.

Vibes

[TillyGalore]

Wonder if Dr. Diazon uses lasers or primitive instruments. ;) ;)