Video: Illegal Logging Is Pushing Rare Madagascar Lemur to the Brink


Lemur Country

For the last 10 years, researcher Erik Patel has focused on the plight of the silky sifaka lemur, an endangered primate whose forest habitat in a remote corner of Madagascar is being cleared by rampant illegal logging. Now a new video, Trouble in Lemur Land — shot in Madagasgar’s Marojejy National Park and Masoala National Park — features Patel and captures scenes of the rare lemur in the mountainous habitat that has kept it safe for thousands of years and of the logging operations that are feeding a robust market for rosewood, ebony, and pallisandre. According to scientists, as few as 300 of these lemurs remain — none outside this remote region.
Watch the video