For Immediate Release Contact: Pat Kremer/Nancy O'shea (312) 665-7100 Field Museum Announces New Discovery Made by Scientists Working in Madagascar November 13, 2000 Chicago – An international team of scientists has discovered three unknown species of mouse lemurs, the world’s smallest primates, living in the endangered forests of Madagascar. Their research report appears in the December International Journal of Primatology. Lemurs are primitive primates that live in trees and are found only on the island of Madagascar and the nearby Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa. They have long noses, agile limbs, and piercing round eyes and can be as big as a medium-sized dog or as small as a chipmunk. There are about 40 species of living lemurs, and more than half of them are endangered, as their forest habitats are destroyed by Madagascar’s poor and rapidly growing population. Until a few years ago, scientists believed that only two species of mouse lemurs (the smallest of their kind) lived on the entire island: Microcebus murinus, found in the dry forests along the western coast, and Microcebus rufus, seen in the more humid eastern forests. But a group of researchers including Steven Goodman of The Field Museum in Chicago, Jörg Ganzhorn of the University of Hamburg, and Rodin Rasoloarison of the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar and the Deutsches Primatenzentrum in Germany, recently completed the most detailed survey ever of mouse lemur populations in Madagascar’s western forests. Comparing the physical characteristics of mouse lemurs from 12 geographic locations, the scientists found that seven different species – including three new to science – are living where only a few were thought to exist. "It’s incredibly rare to describe a new species of primate, let alone three," says Goodman, who has documented the amazing biodiversity on Madagascar for more than 10 years and helps Malagasy students do field research as part of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Ecology Training Program, based in the island’s capitol city of Antananarivo. Mouse lemurs are the most common primates on Madagascar, with as many as 400 individuals living in one square kilometer. But their nocturnal lifestyle makes them hard to observe. "At many sites when you walk through the forest with a headlamp on, you see their eyes bouncing all around you," says Goodman. Rasoloarison did much of the field work that led to the recent discoveries, surveying mouse lemurs at a dozen sites -- from thick dry forests to thorny scrubland. Ganzhorn, the third co-author, has been studying lemurs for many years and coordinated field research at the Deutsches Primatenzentrum’s field station in the Kirindy Forest, one of Rasoloarison’s study sites. After analyzing physical characteristics of the mouse lemurs such as their teeth, skulls, length, and body size, the researchers found clear-cut differences between the seven different species. "It was already clear from museum specimens that there was a tremendous amount of variation among mouse lemurs," says Goodman. "But previous assessments were based on too few specimens from widely scattered localities, many very discolored and as much as 150 years old. The data were not adequate to assess variation within a population." The three new species are Microcebus berthae, Microcebus sambiranensis, and Microcebus tavaratra. The names of two other species, Microcebus myoxinus and Microcebus griseorufus, were resurrected from past research on mouse lemurs. A sixth, M. ravelobensis, was recently described by a research group from the University of Hannover in Germany, and the seventh is M. murinus, originally thought to be the only one living in Madagascar’s western forests. Northwestern University evolutionary biologist Anne Yoder conducted an independent genetic analysis that confirmed the team’s results. Research on lemurs is important from an evolutionary standpoint because they are the most primitive of living primates. "Understanding aspects of lemur biology and evolution gives us a window into the history of more advanced primates, like ourselves," says Rasoloarison. While mouse lemurs are seen everywhere on the island, it turns out that some species are restricted to very small areas. For example, Microcebus griseorufus lives only in the dry spiny bush at the island’s extreme southwestern end, and the reddish-colored Microcebus berthae (named for Madame Berthe Rakotosamimanana of the University of Antananarivo, who has made significant contributions to the study of lemurs) is only known in Madagascar’s Kirindy Forest. "Before recent research, we thought that Microcebus murinus was the only mouse lemur all of western Madagascar," says Rasoloarison. "It was assumed that, if one forest was destroyed, the species would still be OK as it could be found elsewhere. Now that we know so many species are involved, it gives new importance to protecting our isolated forests." Madagascar: so many species, so little time Madagascar’s forests are home to an amazing variety of unique plant and animal life, including probably more than 12,000 species of flowering plants, half the world’s chameleon varieties, 300 species of butterflies, and nearly 100 species of mammals. Nearly one hundred percent of the mammals on the island are endemic, which means they exist only there and nowhere else on earth. Despite Madagascar’s biological riches, it is one of the world’s poorest nations, with a per capita income of approximately $240 per year. About 80 percent of the population are subsistence farmers, many of whom practice traditional "slash and burn" agriculture. As a result, only 10 percent of the island’s forests remain, and recent estimates suggest that one to two percent of those are being destroyed each year. "Anything living in the forest in Madagascar is threatened due to the rapid loss of habitat," says Goodman. In fact, a lemur known as the golden-crowned or Tattersall’s sifaka, first discovered just 12 years ago, may soon be extinct because its tiny population is restricted to a part of the country where the forest is rapidly disappearing. Goodman and other scientists are racing to document the plants and animals in Madagascar’s most threatened areas – not only for scientific purposes but to help set conservation priorities. Their work could soon become the only record of many of these species. "At this point, it’s not a race to save things; it’s a race to know what’s there," says Goodman. In addition to his own scientific research, Goodman has directed the Ecology Training Programme (ETP) of World Wide Fund-Madagascar in association with the country’s University of Antananarivo since 1992. He serves as an advisor for 10 graduate students each year, helping them conceptualize research projects, find funding, plan their field work, and publish the results. "I believe the country’s greatest hope lies with its young people," says Goodman. "That’s why I do what I do."