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Did you know ...

• in an Air Madagascar DC-4 crash in 1967 at Antananarivo Airport, among those killed was the Malagasy foreign minister Albert Sylla?
• one colony of the Madagascar bat Triaenops menamena contained an estimated 40,000 individuals?
• possible relatives of the extinct Madagascar mammal Plesiorycteropus include hedgehogs, aardvarks, and hyraxes, and its remains have been misidentified as rodents and the giant aye-aye?
• between 2000 and 2008, 39 new species of lemur (Ring-tailed Lemur pictured) were described in Madagascar, bringing the total number of recognized species and subspecies to 99?
• as recently as 500 years ago, the island of Madagascar was inhabited by giant lemurs, referred to as subfossil lemurs, that weighed between 10 and 200 kg (22 and 440 lb)?
• although the Malagasy bat Neoromicia malagasyensis was first collected in 1967, it was not formally described until 1995?
• although the giant fossa, formerly one of the top carnivores of Madagascar, is thought to be extinct, there is some anecdotal evidence of very large living fossas?
• the Cretaceous Malagasy mammal Lavanify is most closely related to a species from India?
• the Madagascar bat Paratriaenops auritus has a noseleaf with three straight, about equally long lancets?
• the extinct Hipposideros besaoka was the largest insectivorous bat of Madagascar?
• the type specimen of Kinkonychelys represents the first turtle skull described from the pre-Holocene era in Madagascar?
• the Blue Vanga is the only vanga occurring outside of Madagascar?
• the mossy leaf-tail gecko (pictured) of Madagascar possesses dermal flaps which disguise its outline?
• the Malagasy bat species Pipistrellus raceyi is characterized by a long, straight penis?
• the Silky Sifaka is a white, diurnal rainforest sifaka found solely within a small area of northeastern Madagascar?
• although no fossils of the extinct Malagasy Hippopotamus have been dated within the last 1,000 years, villagers in Madagascar described a similar creature still alive as recently as 1976?
• Triaenops goodmani, an extinct bat from Madagascar, is known only from three lower jaws?
• Cyclone Elita in January 2004 crossed Madagascar three times, an unusual event but not unprecedented?
• Didiereaceae is a family of cactus-like flowering plants that make up the spiny thickets of Madagascar?
• Jacques Rabemananjara, former Vice President of Madagascar, was also an important negritude poet and playwright?
• Claire's Mouse Lemur is a newly described species of primate that only lives on Nosy Bé, an island near Madagascar?
• Madagascar's unique wildlife, such as the Red-bellied Lemur, is one of the country's main tourist attractions?
• France's Madagascar expedition of 1883 (bombing action pictured) was triggered by the will to remove British economic and religious influence from the island of Madagascar?
• lemurs (pictured) are primates that evolved and diversified on the island of Madagascar after arriving there at least 56 million years ago on a raft of vegetation?
• Jean Ralaimongo came to prominence in 1929 after 3,000 demonstrated following speeches in a cinema in Madagascar?
• Joseph-François Lambert was a French adventurer who tried to overthrow the "Mad Queen" Ranavalona I of Madagascar?
• Beccariophoenix alfredii, a newly discovered species of palm tree native to Madagascar, has a similar appearance to the Coconut palm, but is cold hardier?
• Kalanchoe pinnata (pictured), a succulent plant native to Madagascar, has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago as being used as a traditional treatment for high blood pressure?
• Ambondro, which lived in Madagascar about 167 million years ago, is the oldest known mammal with modern, tribosphenic molars?
• William Louis Abbott, American doctor and philanthropist, went to Madagascar to enlist in the native army against the second French occupation of the island?
• Ratsimilaho established the Betsimisaraka who make up 15% of Madagascar's population?
• UA 8699, a broken molar from the Cretaceous of Madagascar, may be a fragment of the only Mesozoic marsupial from the southern continents?
• crayfish of the Madagascan genus Astacoides have fewer gills than any other crayfish?

More interesting facts on Madagascar

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