Please Note: This program has a rescheduled date. It was originally June 22, 2016.
For 40 million years, Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island located 250 miles off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, had managed to keep its secrets. Among them were plants and animals that had evolved in isolation since the days of the dinosaurs. The island is home to the world’s smallest chameleon, more than 100 endangered species of lemurs including the ring-tailed lemur, and more than 300 types of birds. Eighty percent of the island’s 14,883 plant species are found nowhere else in the world. Now, as civilization encroaches, Madagascar’s plant and animal species vie for survival with humans as their home is threatened with deforestation, erosion, and other pressures.
Edwin Smith, a biologist at the National Zoo, delves into some of Madagascar’s storied mysteries and explores the possibilities for the island’s future.
