Marvellous Millipedes

There is nothing eerier than sitting on the rainforest floor and hearing a scuttling pitter patter of 100's of tiny legs coming towards you. However, once you have identified the culprit these often brightly coloured invertebrates are spectacular to behold. We only saw the large millipedes after there had been rainfall the previous day, and …

Damsels & Dragons (Odonata)

When in Madagascar we saw many cool insects but some of the most colourful were the dragon and damselflies (order Odonata). The easiest way to tell between dragon and damselflies is through the difference in their wings when they land. When landed damselflies shut their wings whilst dragonflies leave them open. Damselflies, sub-order Zygoptera, have …

Chameleons

We were lucky enough to see 2 different species of chameleon whilst in Madagascar, which we considered a great honor as of the 202 species of chameleon on the IUCN Red List 37% are threatened! The chameleons we saw we were able to identify thanks to the amazing people in the Chameleon Specialist Group.   …

Black and White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata)

The black and white ruffed lemur is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List, due to over 80% population decline over the past 21 years. This decline is predominantly due to deforestation and lemur trapping which are both major problems for lemur species in Madagascar. V. variegata are the largest extant species of the family Lemuridae, …