Walking in Perinet
Article & Images by Piero Fariselli

© Piero Fariselli, Field Contributor
Unfortunately, just the first day in the park I broke the flash support, but thanks to my wife’s hair elastics I could take pictures with the flashes! Actually about half of the pictures were useless because the flashes bent too close to the front lens, but at least I could take photographs.
A second bad news was the fact that for our main natural interests the season was inappropriate. All travel guides indicate that the dry season and September in particular, is one of the best months. But this is the Madagascar late winter! Nonetheless, this place is so marvelous that even in its winter it can offer stunning encounters with small and fantastic creatures.
Just to remember, Madagascar is one of the world’s largest island, a little larger than France but slightly smaller than Texas. It is a unique naturalist’s paradise, whose plants and animals have evolved in isolation for more than 150 million years. Because of its remoteness, Madagascar was not invaded by humans until around two thousand years ago. Of course after the arrival of human beings the integrity of this incredible island declined—and is still getting worse day by day. Nevertheless, Madagascar’s natural life is still gorgeous, and the island has highest biodiversity on the planet. Actually, about three quarters of Madagascar’s species are endemic, meaning they live nowhere else in the world. The island is home to stunning animals including lemurs, brightly colored chameleons and geckos, colorful frogs and a variety of other creatures. Sadly, due to habitat destruction and hunting, many of Madagascar’s unique animals are threatened with extinction.

© Piero Fariselli, Field Contributor
Chameleons are diurnal, solitary, and often aggressive towards members of their own species (marked by rapid color change and aggressive posturing). They are ambushers—opportunistic hunters that wait for prey to pass within range of their long tongues. Chameleons move in bizarre way; they slowly rock back and forth between each step taken. This is done, as other small animals like mantids and stick-insects do, to mimic the movement of the leaves being blown by the wind. Since they are not very fast, in this way they can approach arthropods (their main food) without being spotted by possible predators and use their fast tongues—that they can extend more than the length of their body—to “shoot” their prey.

© Piero Fariselli, Field Contributor
When we noticed them on the bushes, we had always the impression of finding gems hanged on the leaves. We were always impressed by their fantastic color and shape, and we were amused by their ability of moving their eyes independently, so that they can point into two opposite directions. Their marvelous brain, differently from ours, can deal with different images at the same time. Of course to judge the distance a binocular view is needed, so that when they spot prey both eyes converge toward it. Chameleons are really built for an arboreal life with their flat body that can be easily balanced on thin twigs. Moreover, their feet are modified so that they can have secure movements on the twigs and leaves, by having two fingers fused together and the other three closing in opposite direction as strong clamps. These fantastic animals also have prehensile tails, very rare among reptiles, used for grasping objects when climbing and moving.
Chameleons are armless for humans, however as frequently happens with small creatures, are feared by the majority of the local population. However, chameleons are part of the local traditions, and they are also subject of several proverbs like “like the chameleon, one eye on the future, one eye on the past” or “ugly as a chameleon.”

© Piero Fariselli, Field Contributor
Madagascar also hosts special jewel-geckos: the phelsuma. They are so brightly colored that are very popular in exotic pet trades. Even though this was not the right season, we had the chance of seeing them in the warmer part of the day. As geckos phelsuma are very unusual, since they are diurnal only and their diet includes fruit and flower nectar.
Finally it is not possible to not take pictures of Malagasy frogs. Madagascar is thought to have more than 300 species of frogs, 99% of which are endemic. Frogs are the only amphibians found in Madagascar; there are no toads, salamanders or newts. Among them the most famous are the tiny frogs (1–3 cm only) of the Mantella, mantidactilus families and marvelous tree frogs such as the boophis. Mantellas are strikingly beautiful frogs and fill a similar ecological niche to the poison dart frogs of South America in that both use bright colors to advertise their toxic skin secretions to predators. Using an opposite survival strategy are the Mantidactylus which rely on cryptic camouflage instead of stunning colors.
When we left Perinet, we had two contrasting thoughts—happiness and sadness. The former because of the astonishing beauty and uniqueness of that piece of land, but the other thought was about the delicate nature of Malagasy environments, in which the fauna and flora are hardly known and almost left unprotected.
Further Reading:
Madagascar Wildlife, A Visitor’s Guide
Hilary Bradt et al 2001 Bradt Publications.
Madagascar, A Natural History
Ken Preston-Mafham, 1991, Facts on File
A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar
Frank Glaw & Miguel Vences, 1994, Moos Druck, Leverkusen and FARBO, Köln