Trouble in Paradise - The Last Lemurs of Madagascar | Free Documentary Nature

in a remote mountainous corner of Northeastern Madagascar lives one of the world's most endangered primates there may be only 300 silky safarico Limas alive today and these rainforests are their only home the rugged terrain of maraji national park has kept the silky safe for thousands of years now their habitat is under threat foreign illegal loggers search for precious Red Gold deep in the forest while a primatologist races against time to uncover the secrets of these rare before they are lost forever millions of years ago the island of Madagascar was cast adrift from Africa and India isolated from the rest of the world the plants and animals evolved to be unlike any others on Earth ancient primates found refuge on the island [Music] without the larger competitors and predators of Mainland Africa they multiplied and diversified into the hundred species of Lima that live here today each one filled a different ecological niche one group became high altitude specialists preferring to live in the most remote mountains and valleys Elusive and ghost-like the silky safaka is rarely seen and no one knows exactly how many still exist current estimates range between 2000 and as few as 300. they are only found in small tracts of undisturbed rainforest in the northeast of the country here in marijuji National Park is where the largest remaining population lives on the tree-clad mountainsides one family group is the focus of a long-term study Eric Patel is an American primatologist who has been following the lives of these individuals for the last 10 years when Eric first arrived in Madagascar in the year 2000 he wanted to choose a Lima species that had not been studied in the long term one of these was the silky safaka there's no question that they're among the rarest animals in the world and that they're on the edge of Extinction currently we're trying to determine how many sulcusifacas are left and we know there are not very many silky sofakas are among the most primitive of primates they're neither monkey nor ape but the predecessor of both [Music] they don't have prehensile Tales like Gibbons but they have opposable first toes on their back feet it's like having Four Hands studying the animals is an almost impossible task the silkies are constantly on the move through Steep and difficult Terrain foreign [Music] this makes them one of the hardest animals on Earth to track it takes a team of people just to keep up with them they spend all day hiking through the mountainous jungle the silkies feed on many different types of plant so in order to get the varied diet they need they cover huge distances during the day feeding as they go very little is known about this species and now Eric has a rare chance to observe their behavior from birth two babies have been born in the group [Music] silky safaris all mate around the same time of year thank you and these babies were born within two weeks of each other for Eric and the group it's an exciting moment for one female raising young is still a novelty she's inexperienced but hopefully with the support of the group she'll become a more capable mother [Music] for the first four weeks the babies cling onto their mothers tightly before they can jump by themselves [Music] infant mortality is known to be very high in silky savarkas but many newborns have been lost in the past the stronghold marijuji is a world heritage site the remoteness of the park provides a Haven for the silkies they are extremely sensitive to Habitat disturbance and for many years these dense mountainous forests have provided a safe retreat [Music] now this remote Haven is under attack gangs of men armed with axes Venture deep into the forest they're looking for Madagascar and Rosewood a rare tree that hardens over hundreds of years of growth foreign over the last five years International demand for Rosewood has grown and the logging industry has gained momentum the process of extracting one species is hugely destructive to the surrounding Forest the loggers need to clear space to prepare the wood for transport in order to do this at least 20 other trees will be cut down large areas of primary rainforest are being destroyed foreign is that several types of precious hardwood that are currently targeted are vitally important to the ecology and habitat of the silky sifaka and along with Rosewood logging comes bush meat hunting large groups of loggers are camping in the forest for weeks at a time hunting Wildlife to supplement their diet lemurs are often a favorite menu item Rosewood logging and the accompanying bushmeat hunting creating a huge amount of disturbance to the forest it has now become the biggest threat to the silky sifaka the wide range of plants in Mara jeji play a vital role in the lives of the silkies finding out details of all the trees they feed from could help to conserve them Eric is undertaking a study of their diet he needs low Edge rabari Desiree is a guide working in marriage and has an in-depth knowledge of the plants and animals he has lived here all his life and has witnessed firsthand the destruction of Rosewood logging for a Barry has come to appreciate that the needs of the loggers and that of the silky safaka meet at a few valuable species of trees ravari's help has been crucial in Eric's dietary study he is one of the few people who can identify all the types of plants that form part of the silky safaka's diet he's also notorious within the team for having personally tasted every kind of food that they eat it is not fully understood why the silkies need to consume so many different plants but finding out the details of their diet is crucial to conserving them what we do know is that silky sofakas eat more than 150 types of plant Foods most of these are only found in this corner of Madagascar all these different food trees are spread out over their home range part of Eric's research involves getting samples of all of them which is not an easy job team embarks on a collecting Mission the silkies are for liverous seed Predators consuming leaves leaves fruit flowers and occasionally soil so keeping track of what they eat and when take some dedication [Music] the collected samples are dried and will be sent to a lab in Germany where they can be analyzed for their nutritional values this knowledge of the silkies diet will provide vital Clues into their eating habits and highlight which trees are essential to their survival recording what the infants begin feeding on is an important part of the study from the day they were born Eric has been watching them closely to see how often they are being fed and how they interact and are looked after by different group members foreign [Music] s live in family groups of up to nine individuals the mara jeji study group comprises of one adult male two adult females and four juveniles they all take part in the care of the infants shared parenting or aloe parenting is unusual amongst primates but silky safarkers often display this Behavior this infant care starts soon after birth and will continue until the babies reach maturity [Music] the older mother is a lot more attentive to her infant [Music] she's raised numerous Offspring and she's clearly more experienced and more relaxed mothers are typically wary when their infants are so small and they don't always allow all the group members to come that close it can be dangerous to leave a juvenile with a young infant thank you [Music] cutting Rosewood within the protected areas is illegal but over the course of the last five years political instability has led to a breakdown of the laws that protect the forests causing illegal logging to Skyrocket large groups of loggers controlled by ruthless and well-organized gangs invaded the national parks is about 550 square kilometers and there are only a dozen Park Rangers attempting to cover some of the most difficult Terrain in the country this is a large mountainous Reserve and virtually impossible to monitor effectively Rosewood is a rare species randomly spread throughout the forest and finding the trees relies on the knowledge of the local people every tree that's cut down has to be dragged out by hand One log can weigh up to a ton and it takes six men to drag one piece at a time through a thick forest everything is flattened in its path [Music] with no roads the heavy pieces are dragged over many kilometers to get them out of the forest nope the whole process takes days it is only possible with the involvement of hundreds of local people for them it is a matter of survival receiving only a few dollars a day for this back-breaking work once they reach the river the logs are floated Downstream towards the coast in 2009 alone loggers took an estimated 100 000 Rosewood and Ebony trees from the national parks of Northeastern Madagascar one third of this originated from Marriage Asian National Park it is late afternoon in the forest and a few of the males are wrestling [Music] this behavior is uncommon in adult primates but silkies are known for their playful nature and all group members often join in the tussles which appear to be just for fun can go on for up to an hour like many other Limas silkies are only active during the day as the light Fades they head to the tops of the tallest trees to find a safe place to sleep they have one natural predator an agile climber the fossa is Madagascar's largest carnivorous mammal and could subdue prey up to 90 of its own body size with young babies in the group the silkies are particularly vulnerable to the fossa so they climb high into the canopy the thinner branches will not support the fossa's weight and the silkies are safe [Music] for Eric's team this is an important part of the day it's critical to see where the Lemurs sleep as this is the only way of maintaining contact with them the following morning this is also part of Eric's study by marking the location and type of tree they sleep in every night he says which species they rely on the most [Music] one of the group's favorite sleeping trees is a palisandre tree malagasy it is known as the money tree there is a very real danger that the loggers could easily shift Focus to this kind of tree is also a precious Hardwood a large amount of the wildlife here is nocturnal venturing out to forage only at night a perk of the tiring hike back to camp he's finding weird and wonderful creatures in the dark Forest wow taking advantage of the lower temperatures and avoiding bigger Predators they move under the cover of Darkness one doesn't have to spend too much time here to see another world of plants and animals almost every biologist that comes to Mara jeji finds new species [Music] work for the trackers starts Before Dawn one member of the team heads out to find the silkies in their sleeping tree [Music] to get there before they start to move off otherwise they could be lost for days [Music] [Music] in order for the silkies to get their daily amount of food they start feeding as soon as they wake up [Music] foreign [Music] but soon enough they begin to move and the tracker has to be ready the adult female leads the group so he tries to keep her in his sight the silkies bound from tree to tree feeding as they go their long back legs enable them to make huge leaps their home range spans across 45 hectares of forest whilst moving through their territory they use scent as a way of communicating with the group males rub their chest glands against trees in response to female scent marking and to let Intruders know that this area is occupied Eric and the rest of the team head out to find the group that's being followed the silkies could be anywhere by now and only by locating the tracker can they make contact sound travels far in the mountains and valleys whoa whoa two calls means the trucker has the animals in sight and the rest of the team move in their aim today is to observe the two babies and expand their study of non-maternal infant care the two mothers continue to show very different Behavior towards their young the younger mother still allows other members of the group to care for her baby another young male now Grooms her infant she seems to need the help more than the other mother but as the group moves off the team noticed that one of the males has taken the young mother's infant Eric and The Trackers follow close behind it's normal for sub-adult males to groom and play with the baby carrying and traveling has rarely been seen at only four weeks old the infant is still dependent on his mother's milk the male is unable to feed it [Music] [Music] excite of him in the foliage is difficult the male splits off from the rest of the group and they lose him in a dense forest the infant is defenseless at this stage and the group hopes that they will return soon they're calm now they talk about a plan to try and track the young Juvenile and the missing baby we feel a certain sense of responsibility for these infants and for each of the individuals in our main study group so anytime anything happens I mean it's all we talk about it's all we think about it's our only reason for being here is this group of silkies so when something happens we don't sleep and we're worried the next morning Eric gets up early he sets out to organize a search party for the missing five-week-old infant [Music] one member will stay with the group while the rest search high and low the forest is vast and the silkies are fast Travelers the mail could be anywhere by now we thought it's a huge area to cover it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack we split up into different groups to increase the search area foreign eventually the team come across the missing infant's mother it's difficult to know if she's distressed but she doesn't appear to be actively searching for her infant she's been permissive with her previous babies and and now she's suffering the consequences but silkies are very sociable animals and the whole group gather round to comfort the young mother the remaining baby goes to her to suckle she still has valuable milk but no baby of her own to offer it to five days pass before the juvenile mail returns but there's no sign of the baby Eric's never heard of a case where aloe parenting has led to an infant death at such a young age the loss of the youngest lemur is a huge blow for the team and the remaining baby is now the Last Hope for the next generation of silkies in this part of the forest s in the power of the ancestors foreign Forest is seen as an eternal Source of Life providing water shelter and the dead as it does for the living water from the forest supplies The Villages below for many centuries marouge has provided for the people living on its edges unlike the Rosewood logging the harvesting of wood for building and burning is on a local subsistence level but the forest isn't infinite it can't provide enough for the local people and the main source of food and income is rice supplied with water from the forests above rice fields dominate the landscape surrounding the park ancient farming methods have been passed down through generations rice is an integral part of malagasy life the human population is exploding in Madagascar and the Northeast where the park is situated has one of the highest human densities on the island is pressed on all sides by an expanding population [Music] but there isn't enough flat land for Rice available so subsistence farmers are using forested slopes where a shift in cultivation known as Tavi is practiced trees and Bush have to be cut and burnt to clear the land for more rice but as the space for growing crops diminishes repeated slash and burn is exhausting the soil of its nutrients eventually large areas of forest are transformed into wastelands where nothing will grow almost all the forests surrounding have been cut down all the silkies have left is what lies inside the park since humans arrived on the island of Madagascar 2000 years ago 90 of the original Forest has been lost the undapper Basin lies just south of the park and is a well-known rice growing area [Music] it was once virgin Forest but now very little remains rubari Desiree is personally buying up land to create his own private Nature Reserve trying to turn the tide and increase the size of protected areas so that all the unique Wildlife at least has a chance the antonatiambo reserve is also an island it Harbors a block of biodiversity and a sea of agriculture the little Reserve is a symbol of what one person can do since rabari has been buying up land and protecting it local schools have been bringing children to see their natural heritage tourists have also started to come and money is flowing into these communities foreign this sends a very powerful message much of antonatiambo's land was once farmland but it's well on the way to Rehabilitation [Music] reversing the surrounding trend of Destruction Eric is concerned about a growing Trend that is threatening all of Madagascar's every year he goes the nearest city to the reserve and finds lemurs that are kept as domestic pets he revisits these homes every year he finds that most of the Lemurs die within a few months kept with a string around their neck and fed bananas every day Pat lemurs don't survive long outside their natural habitat varied diet which cannot be provided in captivity keeping Limas as pets is illegal but these laws are rarely enforced at another house nearby Eric discovers crowned lemurs in cages but this time something more Sinister could be going on are being kept in breeding pairs this could be for sale to the pet trade or worse bushmeat is popular in Madagascar and many people view wild lemur as a delicacy not only at home but also in restaurants all lemurs have a slow reproduction rate so the growing bushmeat trade stands to make a major impact on their future Eric conducts surveys all over Mara jeji and in the deepest darkest parts of the forest the team often find temporary shelters these are made by hunters and Rosewood loggers they often find evidence that the gangs are eating lemurs to survive bush meat hunting is rapidly becoming a primary conservation threat the Rosewood industry is driven by a huge demand on the international market Timber is taken to the ports once there it is piled up and ready for export at the Port of vohama there are several hundred tons of illegally logged Rosewood organized gangs are continuing to stockpile this valuable commodity while they stand by for permission to export it there are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of hardwood lying in the yards all of it just waiting to be shipped out ninety percent of the Rosewood Ebony and palasanda is manufactured into high-end Chinese furniture five to ten percent goes to the United States and Europe tar industry 2009 7000 cubic meters of Rosewood left the ports of Madagascar at an estimated value of 220 million dollars although all the timber going out of the country is illegal the Rosewood Traders are able to acquire the documentation to make it look legitimate in April 2010 the government reinstated the ban on exports but according to the latest reports cutting and stock firing of the wood is still going on and the loggers are felling smaller and smaller trees amongst the locals it's a subject that no one wants to talk about species of tree is now becoming critically endangered the only Rosewood left behind in Madagascar are off cuts which are used by the local craft industry recent studies suggest that in a few years all the big Rosewood will be gone and the species will only exist as furniture and ornaments [Music] storm clouds build as the rainy season approaches [Music] Trade Winds from the East and golf the high forest in heavy cloud cover for most of the year bringing three and a half meters of rain annually during the summer months the rain starts to fall heavily it it is known as the time of breaking Thunder [Music] bad weather and marriages silky research project is ongoing and the team continue to monitor the group and collect data despite the torrential tropical rain the surviving infant is now six months old and is starting to take bigger steps towards maturity meaning has begun and even the older more cautious mother is moving faster and further away her infant is struggling to catch up the baby is much more mobile now still isn't easy keeping up with a mother that's looking for food it is time for him to find his feet she's reluctant to carry the infant all the time and is trying to promote Independence the life cycle of plants and animals corresponds with the arrival of the summer rain the forest is teeming with life [Music] the breathing cycle of birds is synchronized so that their young are ready to fledge during this time of abundance pair of paradise flycatchers are also encouraging their chicks to leave the nest the availability of ripe fruit flowers and young leaves Peaks during this period alimas time of feasting silkies are highly selective eaters searching for a specific part of each plant are seed Predators they consume the hard inner seeds rather than the soft outer pulp the movements of the silky troop are dictated by the location of these ripe fruits and leaves foreign [Music] their bodies are perfectly suited to cover the long distances as they search their home range for food they often hang upside down to hard to reach fruit and flowers and at a full stretch nothing is beyond their grasp their opposable toes allow them to grip tightly onto branches affect the availability of foods it makes replicating the silkies diet practically impossible for this reason it isn't feasible to raise and conserve them in captivity their world remains within the borders of mariju National Park the baby is still partly reliant on his mother's milk but the abundance of food in the forest means it's a perfect time for him to start to feed independently you're starting to explore the forest and under the guidance of his mother begins to learn about the locations of various Foods are just six months of age he has already consumed all the major food types but he still has a long way to go to reach maturity foreign [Music] the remoteness of the silkies means that many children living in the settlements surrounding the park have never seen them bringing them into the forest to make contact with the animals is an important part of Eric's work he is positive that once people come to visit the wildlife and the Lemurs the incentive to preserve the habitat will grow Eric and his group know that they cannot save silkies simply by studying them [Music] the value of taking local villagers out to interact with the Lemurs and get to know them individually makes them appreciate the creatures that live on their doorstep if these children spend more time in the primary Forest they'll come to engage with the environment and its inhabitants I will want to protect it although we Face a lot of challenges here I am becoming a little more optimistic because we have so many dedicated people working with us now it takes a couple villages to save this species and and we're getting a couple Villages behind us due to the ongoing illegal logging and the haunting of endangered lemurs the forests of Northeastern Madagascar including marijuji have been added to the list of world heritage sites in danger now more than ever it is clear that the silkies in the high mountains are the Last Hope for the species we really feel like Maru jeji is our last stand and this is where we're willing to devote most of our resources because marijuji is a world heritage site in danger and it is defensible and worth saving still don't know how many silkies are left and it may take many lifetimes to understand their complex social behavior but spending time with the animals has given Eric a huge insight into their lives and that of the people living alongside them and it is only with this clear understanding of the critical issues they face that we might have a chance to protect these rare and be foreign the future of Madagascar's Limas relies on the actions of both the local and international communities to restore balance to these unique forests before it is too late [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

Views: 31,017

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Documentary, Wildlife, Animal Documentary, Animals, Wild Animals, Wild Animals Documentary, Lemurs, Lemur Documentary, Madagascar Lemurs, African Wildlife, Madagascar Wildlife, Trouble in Lemur Land, Lemurs of Madagascar

Id: 60KOjTC14A4

Length: 48min 39sec (2919 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 04 2023