· A Living Laboratory
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
· Looking Ahead

Global 200 Snapshot

The Madagascar Spiny Thicket ecoregion is a unique desert and the only xeric area on the island. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Madagascar succulent woodlands; Madagascar spiny thickets

A Living Laboratory

About 150 million years ago, a large piece of the African continent split off and became the world’s fourth-largest island. Today, Madagascar is a unique place to study evolution and the ways that species adapt to changing and challenging natural conditions. Many of the plants and animals that inhabit this living laboratory are endemic.

Special Features

The Madagascar Spiny Thicket is such an unusual habitat that experts cannot agree on whether to call it a forest or a desert. So they have decided to call it a thicket. Its trees are either tall and branchless, often with long, sharp spines (thus, the "spiny" thicket) or short, densely branched, with swollen trunks. There is even a palm that has a triangular trunk. All of these unusual characteristics are thought to be adaptations to survive the long, dry periods of up to seven months without rain.

	Amazingly enough people are still finding eggs in this ecoregion from the endemic elephant bird, which went extinct in Madagascar around 1700. This giant bird reached 10 feet (3 m) tall and weighed closed to a ton. Its eggs, able to hold two gallons (7.5 liters) of liquid, were larger than the largest dinosaur eggs.

Wild Side

The Spiny Thicket is particularly known for its endemic family of spiny Dideraceae trees, including the octopus tree, and Pachypodium, commonly referred to as elephant foot because of its huge bulbous base. The ecoregion contains a large variety of spiny and succulent plants, including the songo be, which can reach up to 50 feet (15 meters), aloes, baobabs, and Euphorbia, which resembles links of sausage. It's also home to a variety of lemurs, including Verraux’s sifaka, which is one of the early primates. This athletic mammal springs from tree to tree, and is also known to "dance" on two feet when crossing the ground on foot. The ring-tailed lemur is another resident, with large populations that can reach up to 900 animals per square mile in some areas. The radiated tortoise, with its yellow sunburst pattern, is also found here, along with birds such as the long-tailed ground-roller, running and Verraux’s coas, Lafresnaye’s vanga and subdesert mesite.

Cause for Concern

Trees and other vegetation on Madagascar have been cut down for firewood and to produce charcoal. Some areas have been taken over for subsistence agriculture. Although environmental improvements have been made around the island, some ecoregions, including the Spiny Thicket, are not adequately protected.

Looking Ahead

Madagascar is facing intense pressure from a growing human population. More people need more firewood, charcoal, and areas for grazing -- all of which are causing widespread clearing of habitat in both the forest and thicket areas in the west. WWF and its partners are working with the Malagasy government, traditional leaders, women, and other local organizations and citizens to help protect traditionally sacred and taboo forests, reduce fuelwood consumption, ensure the protection of national park and protected areas, and build support for conservation through rural radio, theater, and other environmental education and communication programs. Recent activities have included the development of management plans for existing parks, training for park staff, and workshops to help women learn how to build fuel-efficient stoves that reduce household wood and charcoal consumption by 40 percent. WWF is also continuing to support research on the endangered lemur populations, build a network of locally managed tree plantations, and conduct training programs for conservation leaders.