We can’t have a month dedicated to Madagascar without mentioning the animal that, in my opinion, encapsulates all that is weird, wacky and wonderful about Madagascan wildlife: the aye-aye. The largest nocturnal primate in the world, the aye-aye is by…

One of Madagascar’s most peculiar habitats can be found on the southwestern edge of the island. Strange spiny forests cover an area slightly larger than Wales – and it can only be described as a botanical wonderland. As the name…

For the whole of October, The Nature Nook has been looking at Madagascan wildlife. We’ve already looked at lemurs, fossas, tenrecs, and the smallest reptile in the world, among others – but the end of the month is rapidly approaching…

Madagascar, it can be said, is the greatest stronghold of chameleons in the world. Of the 200 or so species, almost half can be found on this huge island. The rest are primarily found in Africa, with a few in…

Like many wealthy people of the Victorian Era, Charles Darwin was a passionate orchid collector. He was amazed by their beautifully complex shapes, patterns and structures, and he began amassing a collection of rare specimens from around the world. Even…

The animal in the picture above looks so much like a miniature hedgehog that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it actually is one. But October here at The Nature Nook is Madagascar Month, and since true hedgehogs don’t live…

The fossa is Madagascar’s top dog. Not that it’s actually a dog, of course, because Madagascar doesn’t have any wild dogs. Nor does it have any wild cats, bears, badgers, weasels or raccoons. In their absence, the top predator on…

There are more than 110 different species of lemur alive on Madagascar today and they encompass a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and behaviours. At one extreme is the tiny Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur. At a mere 92 mm in…

Madagascar is an island like no other. Almost 90% of its native plant and animal species live nowhere else in the world – a truly staggering statistic. Although it is considered part of the African continent, Madagascar feels like an…

Most islands are rich in unique species of animals and plants that are found nowhere else in the world. New Zealand, for example, is home to the kiwi, the kākāpō, and the takahē, along with many other rare flightless birds,…

You’ve probably heard of the Tasmanian devil. It’s a noisy, aggressive creature that is sometimes seen spinning around in cartoons. It also has the distinction of being the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial. But a century ago, the Tasmanian devil didn’t…

The red grouse is a very British bird. I say that not because it encapsulates anything particularly British (although it is widely known as the logo of The Famous Grouse whisky), but because it is found nowhere else in the…