Just made a wonderful trip to Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa and Ranomafana
National Park on the high plateau. It always blows me away how
different the people, mud earth two-storied homes and countryside are
here, compared to the part of Madagascar I know so well. Here is a traditional Betsileo scene from our drive to Fanarantsoa.

We observed one particular group of lemurs dashing around and
foraging high up in the tall bamboo canopy of Ranomafana. This was
Prolemur simus (the greater bamboo lemur), the rarest lemur species in
Madagascar.

There are an estimated 60 Prolemur simus individuals remaining in the
wild. It cannot cross-breed with other species of bamboo lemur and has
very specific habitat restrictions. It used to be very widely
distributed on the island, but populations have been decimated in the
last two centuries due to habitat loss. This animal is, tragically, on
its way to extinction. I’m glad I got to see it now.

What is interesting about this species is that it feeds almost
exclusively on giant bamboo, preferring the shoots, but also eating
the pith and leaves (we got to observe two individuals skillfully
ripping through the tough bamboo shell to get to the yummy tender
white shoots, seemingly effortlessly). It is not known how their
metabolism deals with the high concentration of cyanide found in the
shoots. The dose of cyanide a greater bamboo lemur consumes in a day
would be enough to kill a (much larger) human.