Field note #8

Madagascar field updates summer 2023

​Text by Onja H. Razafindratsima 

This year, we decided to deploy a couple of GPS collars on the three large-bodied frugivorous lemur species in Ranomafana National Park to get a better sense of their movement patterns and activities. We worked with a team of experts in capturing and handling lemurs led by DVM Haja Rakotondrainibe. These GPS collars will allow us to investigate how lemur movement and foraging patterns change across seasons with varying fruit availability. I have been studying lemur ecology for more than a decade and this was the first that I got up close to my study species in their natural environment. It was exhilarating!  

Onja with a black-and-white ruffed lemur

Dr. Haja Rakotondrainibe checking the vitals of a lemur before putting the GPS collar

Hasina using a tracking device to locate the collared lemurs

In addition to collaring lemurs and continuing our research on lemur movement, foraging and their role in seed dispersal in Ranomafana, we also set-up a new project that uses genetics and seed traps to try to gain a better understanding of frugivore-plant interactions in this system. This approach allows us to determine what animals consumed and dispersed a seed to a given location, without the need to be present to observe the event.

CVB technician Georges Razafindrakoto surveying seedlings under the seed traps

After spending quite some time in Ranomafana, I then joined my mentees in Ihofa, in the eastern part of Madagascar to check on their projects. I enjoyed very much the visit!  

Field team in Ihofa

Lunch with lab members and collaborators in Antananarivo. Some of us went to the field the next day, others went back home.

Some pictures from the field can be found in this link.