Madagascar is a large state located on one island. The capital is the city of Antananarivo or “Tana” as the locals call it. The name translated means “a thousand villages”. The population is 2 610 000 people. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the entire Earth. The first people appeared on the island about 2000 years ago, this is the last part of the land that was inhabited by humans. In the 16th century, the island was first discovered by the Portuguese explorer Diego Diaz. And in 1896 the country was captured by the French and turned into their colony. Madagascar gained independence in 1960 and the state acquired complete freedom. The official languages on the island are French and Malgach. In total, Madagascar is home to about 24 million people.
Flora and fauna.
Madagascar is an amazing island located in the Indian Ocean and separated from the African continent about 165 million years ago. The island is located about 400 kilometers east of Africa and therefore, due to its remoteness and isolation, its own ecosystem has formed. The amazing and mysterious fauna of the island is so diverse and unique that about 90% of the species can be found only here and nowhere else on the planet. The largest predator in Madagascar is the Fossa. The body of this unusual animal is like that of a cat, and the nose is like that of a dog. Sizes can reach an adult lion. The endangered species of this animal is listed in the Red Book.
Another feature of Madagascar is the lemurs that live only on this island. There are about 100 types of them here. These are very funny animals with a bizarre appearance. And in the north of the island lives the largest nocturnal primate, the Madagascar aye, or aye aye. This is a very rare mammal that belongs to a special type of lemur. The real name in the Malgach language is unknown, since the locals are afraid to pronounce his name out loud, because they believe that the one who killed the ah ah will soon die himself. Although this animal is completely harmless. The hand looks very unusual: brown hair, long tail, crazy bright yellow eyes, big ears and very huge fingers. This animal weighs about 3 kg, the body length is about 40 cm, while the fluffy incredibly long tail is about 60 cm. The aye is fed on fruits, mushrooms and larvae of tree bark.
There are a lot of reptiles and snakes in Madagascar (about 80 species), but all of them are not poisonous. And on the east coast there are a lot of turtles and the locals hunt them, throwing sticky fish into the water and thus get their prey with it.
This mysterious paradise island can be called a botanical garden, since about 15,000 plant species grow here, only 860 species of orchids, and the variety and number of palms (170 species) exceeds many times than on the mainland of Africa. But the most significant and symbolic plant in Madagascar is the baobab. There are only 9 species of this tree all over the world and most grow here.
The nature on the island delights with its uniqueness. The soil has a red hue due to its high iron content, and the plants are bright green due to the high aluminum content in the soil. Therefore, you can only observe such a bright red-green landscape on this mysterious wonderful island!
Madagascar has over 20 national parks listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.