World_of_Animals_Issue_46_2017

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ost forever Sloth lemur This slow-moving relative of modern lemurs couldn’t survive after humans arrived in Madagascar and set fire to its forests Big-boned Skeletal remains suggest that their bodies were much larger than those of any extant lemur. Lemur claws Their claws were short and flat, not curved like those of sloths. Hangers-on Their limbs might have been better suited to hanging rather than swinging from branches. Madagascar What the sloth lemur is believed to have looked like Vegetarian diet Their teeth suggest they ate a diet of leaves, fruit and nuts picked from the trees. Considering the fate of the flightless dodo, it may seem advantageous to be a species that lives entirely off the ground when it comes to evading humans. Unfortunately, that does not appear to have been true for Madagascar’s sloth lemurs. Biologists believe that most of the species in this group lived in trees, yet they were probably all extinct by the middle of the 17th century, partly because of encounters with people. Four genera of sloth lemur have been identified from subfossil skeletal remains found in caves and pits, including one that might have been terrestrial. These bones have features that suggest they belonged to mammals that were like sloths. Analysis of DNA has confirmed, however, that sloth lemurs evolved from a common ancestor of extant lemurs. Even so, all sloth lemur species appear to have been much larger than any modern lemurs and the biggest one possibly resembled a prehistoric ground sloth. 46 The long limbs of the smaller sloth lemurs would have been ideally suited to a life spent in the trees, but even these species are thought to have been slow-moving. That would have made them easy targets when humans began colonising Madagascar from around 1,800 to 1,500 years ago. Some of the oldest evidence of human presence on the island includes a sloth lemur bone that has signs of damage from what could have been a primitive cutting tool. Why sloth lemurs went extinct is not known for sure. Anecdotal evidence suggests that they were solitary, which might have meant they had a slow reproductive rate. In combination with hunting by humans, the burning of the forests by settlers and the effects of climate change, this behaviour may have led to a slow decline in sloth lemur numbers until eventually there were not enough individuals to sustain the population. The fate of these gentle giants was then sealed. Last seen… Date: 1658 Location: Madagascar One of the last records of a sloth lemur could have been made by Étienne de Flacourt, France’s governor of Madagascar in the mid-17th century. In his book, L’Histoire de le Grande Île de Madagascar, published in 1658, he described a creature called the ‘tretretretre’ that had long, monkey-like hands and feet, a flat face and was the size of a two-year-old calf. If Flacourt’s account is of a sloth lemur, it means some were still alive 360 years ago. “Why sloth lemurs went extinct is not fully known” © freevectormaps.com; Alan Batley
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Page 1: 5 snake superpOWers yOu WOn’t beL
Page 4 and 5: Welcome to Issue 46 06 Amazing anim
Page 6 and 7: The amazing world of animals 6
Page 8 and 9: The amazing world of animals Every
Page 10 and 11: The amazing world of animals A spre
Page 12 and 13: All about the koala Koala Phascolar
Page 14 and 15: All about the koala Koalas wedge th
Page 16 and 17: Inside the koala Koalas are adapted
Page 18 and 19: All about the koala Life in a gumtr
Page 20 and 21: ExtrEmE SNAILS Famous for their slo
Page 22 and 23: Extreme snails Most protective Appl
Page 24 and 25: Extreme snails Deadliest Cone snail
Page 26 and 27: PAINTED LEOPARDS A life spent prowl
Page 28 and 29: Painted leopards Hunters of the nig
Page 30 and 31: Painted leopards South America Curr
Page 32 and 33: Fighting Fish Discover fascinating
Page 34 and 35: Fighting fish That’s not my name
Page 36 and 37: Fighting fish I choose you The mati
Page 38 and 39: GARDENING GONE WILD Fancy turning y
Page 40 and 41: Gardening gone wild Hedgehogs help
Page 42 and 43: Gardening gone wild Bees pollinate
Page 44 and 45: Gardening gone wild Five birds in y
Page 48 and 49: THE INCREDIBLE LIVES SEABIRDS Despi
Page 50 and 51: Brown pelican Arctic tern This dimi
Page 52 and 53: The incredible lives of seabirds Th
Page 54 and 55: The incredible lives of seabirds no
Page 56 and 57: The incredible lives of seabirds Se
Page 58 and 59: Conserving the scimitar-horned oryx
Page 60 and 61: The open plains beckon! The first o
Page 62 and 63: Conserving the scimitar-horned oryx
Page 64 and 65: Explore the Earth A wIL dlIfE PaRaD
Page 66 and 67: Watch the bats rise as the Sun sets
Page 68 and 69: Explore the Earth Go island-hopping
Page 70 and 71: Explore the Earth Dive with dolphin
Page 72 and 73: SUpEr serpents Snakes are some of t
Page 74 and 75: Leaf-cutter ants FARMERS OF THE INS
Page 76 and 77: Leaf-cutter ants Leaf-cutter ant At
Page 80 and 81: Leaf-cutter ants “These ants are
Page 82 and 83: Meet the family Dolphins After maki
Page 84 and 85: The wildlife of a cave Meet the cur
Page 86 and 87: The wildlife of a cave The creature
Page 88 and 89: The wildlife of a cave The cave eco
Page 90 and 91: ehind lens THE Luke Massey Pro phot
Page 92 and 93: Keeping in touch Contact us at… @
Page 94 and 95: TM £4.99 £3.75 per issue Subscrip
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Animal answers Send your animal que
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Interview with a… wildlife fundra
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