Correct Answer: Overgrazing by large mammals such as antelope and gazelle. Explanation: Antelope and gazelle are found only on the mainland of Africa. Deforestation is the greatest threat to Madagascar’s biodiversity. The toxic Asian common toad puts Madagascar’s predators at risk, as any who eat it soon die.
Explanation: About 89 percent of Madagascar’s flora, 92 percent of its mammals and 95 percent of its reptiles are found nowhere else on Earth. This lemur is one of the rarest primates in the world, known as the “angel of the forest” due to its pure white fur: Correct Answer: Silky sifaka.
Explanation: The Malagasy are divided into approximately 20 ethnic groups, and this diversity is reflected in their livelihoods, which includes growing cash crops such as vanilla, coffee, cloves and cocoa and cultivating food staples such as pink rice, maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts, oranges and cassava.
The Malagasy mine precious stones including sapphires, rubies and emeralds, along with semi-precious stones and minerals such as gold and silver. Malagasy people also fish, raise zebu cattle, craft finely woven textiles and work in the tourism industry. Photo Credit: Richard de Gouveia.
Madagascar later split from India 88 million years ago , leaving lifeforms to evolve in isolation on the island.
Lemurs the size of gorillas once roamed the island along with the Malagasy pygmy hippopotamus, and the 900-pound elephant bird was the largest bird to have ever walked the earth. Evidence suggests that when settlers first came to Madagascar, these megafauna were hunted to extinction.