Résumé |
If ever there were a place where nonhuman primates can be said to be ecologically dominant, Madagascaris that place. An entire suborder evolved on the island, including a minimumof 15 genera and 44 species that ranged in size from mice to gorillas. They lived amidst a flora as diverse as any tropical flora in the world (38) and, before the arrival of people, they shared it with few other mammalsT. here is evidence of only one family of insectivores (the Tenrecidae), an endemic subfamily of rodents (the Ncsomyinae), a handful small, endemicv iverrids, a few bats, hippos, and a suid (1, 2, 6, 60, 65, 68, 109, 112). The bird fauna of Madagascar is depauperate too, not only compared to continental bird communities of similar latitude but also in comparison with island bird populations such as that of Borneo (80). Whole guilds, notably woodpeckers, nectar-feeders, and fruit-eaters, are absent or sparsely represented (17, 80; S. Zack, ersonal communication).The reason for the remarkable predominance of primates on Madagascar isuncertain. It has been estimated that the island reached its current, isolatedposition 120 million years ago (128), making a sweepstake crossing of theMozambiquCeh annel the only route available to most colonizers. |