14 DAY TRIAL // The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announces the discovery of a population of very rare giant mouse lemurs on the island of Madagascar. Popularized by the movie of the same name, the island, off the Eastern coast of Africa, is currently the only known place where this species lives. The WWF researchers discovered this particular group in forests located in the southwestern parts of the island, where the animals were foraging in fruiting fig trees. Experts Charlie Gardner, and Louise Jasper made the finding, the conservation organization announces.
The population was found in 2009, as the two were leading a nighttime survey of the region to assess the biodiversity along the gallery forest of Ranobe, near Toliara. They discovered the giant mouse lemurs (Mirza) in the canopies, going about their usual business. At this point, naturalists know of only two species belonging to the Mirza group, called Mirza coquereli and M. zaza. The former has never before been observed in this particular area of Madagascar before, the researchers said. They added that, according to the latest statistics from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Coquerel's Mouse-lemurs (M. coquereli) are qualified as “near threatened.”
This means that, in the very near future, the species could be upgraded to either the vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered status, depending on its evolution. Trends show that the populations are decreasing in number and strength, and conservation programs appear to be unable to prevent this decline. But this newly-found population is bringing a ray of hope to experts trying hard to prevent these animals from going extinct. The species found in 2009 are also special, with a “significant differences in the coloration of its coat from the other two species,” researcher Charlie Gardner says, quoted by PhysOrg.
“The specimen that we observed appears to have a lighter dorsal coloration than is noted for M. coquereli, and has conspicuous reddish or rusty patches on the dorsal surface of the distal ends of both fore- and hind-limbs. The ventral pelage is also conspicuously light in color, and the animal possesses a strikingly red tail, also becoming darker at the end. This is to suggest that it may not only be a new population, but a new species or subspecies,” he adds. Still, more research is needed to validate this hypothesis. The researchers need to capture one of the animals, and examine its genetic material, so as to see if the differences between it and other species are sufficiently large to merit a new classification.