Baobab Avenue
Different-looking lemurs, strange-looking Horse Island badgers, chubby baobab trees... When most people think of "Madagascar", their first reaction is almost always the animated film Madagascar produced by DreamWorks. Several wild animals, locked up in New York's Central Park and trying to escape back to their african homeland, accidentally come to the island and embark on a magical journey to experience nature and understand life.
Madagascar, located in the west of the Indian Ocean and southeast of Africa, is the largest island in Africa and the fourth largest island in the world. A fictional cartoon, some virtual magic story, why choose this island country as a landing point? What kind of magic is it?
Forgotten corners of God
Now that it's possible to produce a cartoon featuring animals, the island may have been full of animal traces in the real world that are enough to be called characteristic.
Outside of that hilarious cartoon, Madagascar has a very lonely name— "The Forgotten Corner of God." About 88 million years ago, the island of Madagascar broke away from the huge land plate and gradually migrated to become a relict independent island.
Forgetting, while meaning remoteness, also brings with it a more complete, less destructive diversity of organisms. In Madagascar's isolated "bio-friendly" environment, almost 90% of the species of flora and fauna are unique to it. Whether it is the animals fleeing the United States in fictional stories or the people who have traveled across Hayden Island in the real world, they can truly understand the wonders of nature in Madagascar's complex and unique flora and fauna.
Remember Julian, the "Lemur King" in Madagascar? In the real animal world of Madagascar, lemurs really don't have to wait for "no tigers in the mountains" and can also be real "kings".
Lemurs, which have inhabited the earth since the late dinosaur age, have always lived in fear because of the lack of sharp fangs and sharp teeth of beasts, but in Madagascar, lemurs have found their refuge. There are now about 54 species of lemurs. In addition to the ring-tailed lemur represented by King Julian, there are also lemur species with different forms and habits such as short-tailed lemurs, mouse lemurs, and panda lemurs. The most interesting thing is that these lemurs "can sing and dance".
For example, the most interesting dancing lemur, although a monkey, insists on walking on two legs, bouncing and jumping when walking, like a person dancing, hence the name. This "dancing at any time" lemur is the only species of lemur that does not drink water at all, and it is extremely magical to maintain the body's demand for water by eating the water obtained by eating the leaves.
The lemur, known as "Babakoto", is the largest. Every day, this "giant" will join the lemurs of the same breed to carry out many "choruses" in the primeval forest.
Dancing Lone Monkey
In addition to the most famous lemurs, Madagascar is also home to a large number of chameleons. The king chameleon who can swallow small mammals and birds, the leopard chameleon wearing a "leopard coat", the colorful chameleon that seems to have been combined at will after overturning the palette... Almost all of these chameleons can only be seen in Madagascar. They not only show the colorful and magnificent life of the earth, but also a rare natural museum, which collects the secrets of the planet along the way.
Ark
In addition to interesting animals, Madagascar has two precious and unique resources – baobab trees and sapphires.
In the cartoon Madagascar, the most shocking scenery must be the "Baobab Avenue". Real-world Baobab Avenue, located in Murundava, Madagascar. This road of only about 300 meters condenses the most beautiful scenery in the ground: the empty African islands, the stout baobab trees rising from the ground, and if combined with the dusk sun, the umbrella-like branches of the baobab trees are like god's whimsical strokes, making people feel as if they are in a desolate and distant other universe.
Baobab trees don't just offer breathtaking views. The reason why it is called "baobab" is that it can provide fruit for the lemurs of Madagascar – this fruit, which can also be tasted by humans, is wrapped in seeds with a very high oil content, which is the main source of cooking oil for the locals.
In addition to the fruit, the bark of the baobab tree can be made of paper and cloth, the leaves can be fried and eaten, and the wood can be hollowed out and used to build houses... What's more, because they live in the savannah all year round, baobabs have an extremely clever way of dealing with water sources: during the rainy season, they use loose wood to absorb a lot of water; when the long dry season comes, they slowly use the water in their bodies to survive the heat.
Therefore, during the trip, if you encounter a baobab tree and dig a hole in the trunk with a knife, you can immediately harvest a bunch of clear springs - the baobab tree is also known as the "tree of life", as a water source station in the drought, the baobab tree silently nourishes many dry hearts.
In addition to flora and fauna, in the 1990s, a large number of sapphire deposits were discovered in Madagascar. When found, this unusually beautiful little stone with its charming purple hue rivaled the hot Kashmiri sapphire of the time. Excellent transparency, bright clarity, and a unique luster make Malagasy sapphires popular on the market. Today, Malagasy sapphire production accounts for 30% to 50% of the world's sapphire production.
Sapphires discovered by the people
From nimble creatures and exotic vegetation to scarce minerals, Madagascar's "gift" seems to refute the name "forgotten corners". It is more like a Noah's Ark, condensing the wonders of the earth.
Island of Blood and Tears
One of the most famous spin-offs in the Madagascar series is Penguins of Madagascar – but there are no penguins in Madagascar.
Similarly, as we gaze at this distant island, attracted by cheerful lemurs, diverse reptiles, stunning baobab trees and dazzling gems, we are likely to overlook the hidden discord under the light of Madagascar, which is still one of the most backward countries in this fast-moving world.
Stills from Madagascar 2
Because of the backwardness of production conditions and national consciousness, the malagasy islanders adopted the primitive agricultural production model of slash-and-burn farming. The growth of primeval forests takes thousands of years, but the destruction is only in an instant. Today, the forests of central Madagascar have almost completely disappeared, from towering trees to dwarf grasses, and the animals that inhabit them have disappeared in large numbers. Remember that "short 300 meters or so" baobab avenue? It was also once a forest that was thriving enough until the pace of logging made it a wasteland.
In early 2009, with the collapse of the government, the unregulated forest environment, and the international market demand for rosewood, there was a frenzied tree-cutting wave in Madagascar – most people went to cut down trees to make money, stealing precious wood from 4.5 million hectares of protected areas. Indiscriminately cut down trees leaving bare land, soil erosion is severe, farmland is submerged; forests are no longer there, lemurs have lost their homes, and they are almost extinct... Loggers even "incidentally" catch homeless lemurs and sell them at low prices to surrounding restaurants for a curious dish. Lemur breeds such as red-collared lemurs, forked-spotted lemurs, thick-tailed pygmy lemurs, and finger lemurs have completely disappeared in the iron pots of the simple kitchen.
The government's inaction has allowed this resource-rich country to "make wedding dresses" for other countries for a long time. Gold, nickel, cobalt, titanium, sapphire and other abundant resources can improve the national economy and people's livelihood, but Madagascar has given these rights to a foreign group, Mobil, the world's largest oil company, to exploit deep-sea oil here; xylophone manufacturers around the world are looking for precious ebony instruments. If it is not their own home, no one is worried about sustainable development, and it is natural to have no pain in exploiting it.
Ordinary people who want to improve their lives can only hope for luck and look for sapphires with low thresholds for mining and processing. As a result, thousands of ordinary people and gem dealers enter sapphire mining sites — most of which are supposed to be protected areas in Madagascar where mining is prohibited. The destruction of the environment need not be repeated, and the process of these inexperienced and unorganized people excavating sapphires is another history of blood and tears.
Under the geologically complex mines, these people use only the most rudimentary pulleys and ropes. In order to avoid the toxic natural gas underground, they have no professional oxygen equipment, but to put their heads in a huge plastic bag - if there are any gaps in the plastic bag, they will be poisoned and die; if something goes wrong, they can't climb up before the oxygen in the plastic bag is exhausted, they will suffocate. So every time you go down the well, it is a big gamble of life and death. Therefore, the sapphire of Madagascar is also known as the "sapphire of blood and tears".
Madagascar has no penguins, and there are no pure paradises and fairy tales in the world – but many of Madagascar's pains and regrets could have been unnecessary.
Author | Reporter Yudana
See the world magazine produced by new media