Table Of ContentExtinct Madagascar
Extinct
Madagascar:
Picturing the
Island’s Past
Steven M. Goodman and
William L. Jungers
Plates by Velizar Simeonovski
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Steven M. Goodman is the MacArthur Field Biologist at the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Field Museum, Chicago, and based in Antananarivo, Madagas-
car. William L. Jungers is distinguished teaching professor Goodman, Steven M., author.
and chair of anatomical sciences at Stony Brook University Extinct Madagascar: picturing the island’s past / Steven M.
School of Medicine. Velizar Simeonovski is an artist based in Goodman and William L. Jungers; plates by Velizar Simeonovski.
Chicago who specializes in reconstructions of extinct species pages cm
and prehistoric landscapes. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-226-14397-2 (cloth) — ISBN 978-0-226-15694-1
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 (e-book) 1. Fossils—Madagascar. 2. Animals—Madagascar.
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London 3. Geology—Madagascar. 4. Plants—Madagascar. 5. Natural
© 2014 by The University of Chicago history—Madagascar. I. Jungers, William L., 1948– author.
Plates © 2014 by Velizar Simeonovski II. Title.
All rights reserved. Published 2014. QE757.M28G664 2014
Printed in the United States of America 560.691—dc23 2014016894
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5 This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-
1992 (Permanence of Paper).
The University of Chicago Press wishes to acknowledge
g ratefully the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, the Ellis
Goodman Family Foundation, the Field Museum of Natural
History, and Association Vahatra for their generous contribu-
tions toward the publication of Extinct Madagascar: Picturing
the Island’s Past.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-14397-2 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-15694-1 (e-book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226156941.001.0001
To our families (Asmina, Hesham, Vavizara, Mboty,
Mahery, Mandresy, Matthew, and Jocelyn)
and
In memory of Madame Berthe Rakotosamimanana
and Robert Dewar
Contents
foreword ix Paleontological and Paleoecological
acknowledgments xi Evidence 45
Summary 46
PART 1: Madagascar in Perspective: Human Interactions with Now-Extinct Land
Past and Present Vertebrates 47
Reptiles 47
Introduction 3
Tortoise 47
General 3
Birds 47
Aspects of Format 3
Elephant Birds 47
The Artist 5
Mammals 48
Geological Time, Dates, and Radiocarbon Lemurs 48
Dating 7 Hippos 48
What Is a Subfossil? 9
Hypotheses on What Caused the Extinctions
The Types of Subfossil Sites 10
during the Holocene 52
An Overview of the Origins, Geology, Animal
Extinction, Conservation, and the Future 53
Colonization, and Modern Habitats of
Madagascar 16
Madagascar in Deep Time—Isolation and Origin PART 2: Case Studies
of Its Plants and Animals 16
Geographical Plates
History of Animal Colonization 18
Plate 1: Cap Sainte Marie—the Ecology of Elephant
Geography 18
Birds and Their Interface with Humans 59
Geology 22
Plate 2: Andrahomana I—the Ecology of Extreme
Vegetational Patterns 23
Southeastern Madagascar and a Barometer of
Humid Forest 25
Change 65
Dry Deciduous Forest 26
Plate 3: Andrahomana II—Evidence of a Holocene
Spiny Bush 27
Tsunami in the Southern Indian Ocean and
Savanna and Grassland Formations 30
Predator-Prey Relations 74
A Brief History of Climatic Change on Plate 4: Tsimanampetsotsa—Rapid Ecological Shifts
Madagascar since the Late Pleistocene 36 in the Face of Natural Climate Change 79
Plate 5: Taolambiby—Hypotheses Associated with
History of Human Colonization of
Animal Extinction and Hunting by Humans:
Madagascar 38
Physical Evidence and Interpretation 87
Considerations of Language and Diff erent Types
Plate 6: Ankilitelo—a Deep Pit Cave and
of Introductions 38
Inferences on Recent Ecological and Faunal
The Human Genetic Evidence 41
Change 94
Evidence of Pre–Iron Age Colonization of
Plate 7. Ampoza I—Reconstruction of the Ecology
Madagascar 42
and Fauna in a Formerly Permanent Riverine
The Archaeological Record of Occupation and
Habitat in the Southwest 102
Settlement 44
Plate 8. Ampoza II—Ecological Change in a Forest
Community and Connecting Humid Forest
Corridors to the Eastern Portion of the Island 107
Plate 9: Belo sur Mer—a Window into Diff erent
Hypotheses Associated with Environmental
Change: Natural versus Human-Induced 112
Plate 10: Mananjary—the Former Estuary System
of Eastern Lowland Madagascar and Some Its
Faunal Elements 120
Plate 11: Antsirabe Region—Ecology of Highland
Marsh and Forest Habitats as a Measure of
Change through Time 125
Plate 12: Ampasambazimba—Reconstruction of
a Montane Woodland Habitat that No Longer
Occurs on the Island 133
Plate 13: Anjohibe I—Secrets of the Past Disclosed
by Careful Study of Subfossil Bone and Pollen in
a Cave 144
Plate 14: Anjohibe II—Inferences Based on Cave
Remains and Aspects of the Organisms Living in
the Adjacent Ecosystem 150
Plate 15: Anjajavy—a Trapdoor Cave, Ecology of an
Extinct Lemur, and Untold Extinct and Extant
Biodiversity 157
Plate 16: Ankarana I—Ecological Change of a Forest
Community, a View from the Ground Up 162
Plate 17: Ankarana II—Ecological Change of a Forest
Community, a Bird’s-Eye View from the Forest
Canopy 168
Plate 18: Ankarana III—Tragedy and How the Bone
Remains of an Extinct Lemur Can Help Piece
Together How It Lived and the Former Local
Forest Ecology 173
Species Plates
Plate 19: Cryptoprocta spelea—an Extinct Mega-
Predator and Aspects of How It May Have Lived
and Hunted 177
Plate 20: Stephanoaetus mahery—a Presumed
Primate Specialist and Its Role in the Evolution
of Behavioral Aspects of Living and Extinct
Lemurs 182
references 187
index to malagasy place-names 201
index to scientific names 203
a color gallery of plates 1–20 follows
p. 132.
Foreword
Madagascar, like Africa, is not a place for the faint- what sort of stuff to watch out for around there, and
hearted. If you are prone to complain a lot, you will hiring local camp help and guides—I asked the chief
fi nd lots to complain about in this challenging land, if any other vazaha had come out to see his cave in
with its climate extremes, bad roads, complex bu- recent years. His answer was similar to one I have
reaucracy, and, for a foreigner, just plain strange- heard in other remote villages: “Yes, there was one a
ness. It is thus no surprise that, again like Africa, the few years ago—he looked like Jesus.” Well, it would
kind of vazaha (foreigners) who take to Madagascar not be much hyperbole to say that if nature in Mada-
tend to be extraordinary people. Steve Goodman and gascar has a savior, Steve is probably it.
Bill Jungers are two of the fi rst examples to come to But I have never really worked much with Steve,
mind, and their remarkable resolve, thoroughness, except on a few papers about interesting fossils I have
and persistence is in evidence on every page of this found that he took an interest in, and contributions
book. These are not timid people, and I have never to a couple of his excellent edited volumes. By the
had a boring moment with either of them. time he was hitting full stride there, I was looking at
Steve was somebody whom I did not actually run places with interesting similarities and diff erences
into in Madagascar until well into my many years elsewhere around the world. I sincerely wish we
there. I was down in one of the most arid parts of could have worked together more, and, in fact, we are
southwest Madagascar, by that remarkable hyper- making plans for an upcoming project in one of the
saline playa lake with the unpronounceable name: Tsi- most remote places in western Madagascar, where I
manampetsotsa (for understandable reasons, it often really look forward to getting to know this “unforget-
turns up in the literature with alternate spellings). table character” better.
I admit to having been a little skeptical at fi rst. My recollections of early Steve Goodman are scant
Here was this scrawny, hirsute white guy, like my- and perhaps tattered by too many hard decades in
self, but who also had, like me, plenty of training remote places and confused by too many other sto-
for Madagascar in Africa. He was traveling alone, ries not yet written down. Bill Jungers, on the other
checking out sites for what would eventually be a hand, I know a lot better; I count him among my best
uniquely stellar career on this island nation. Steve friends, and on refl ection he has probably saved my
was a neophyte on the island and lacked the refl ex life indirectly at least once or twice, simply by being
that comes through experience, but he had a certain there with his always casual and friendly demeanor—
something—a determination and quickness of wit— and his imposing size. Tall and stocky, Billi-be, as
that is essential for success en brousse in a place like Malagasy often call him (“Big Bill”), is a true giant of a
Madagascar. I came away from our fi rst encounter, man in every way. Like Steve, he has a CV full of envi-
after hearing about his optimistic agenda, thinking: able accomplishments that just go on and on, decade
This guy will go far in Madagascar—or die trying. after decade. He is also truly full of what we out here
Now, a quarter century later, Steve Goodman is the in Hawai‘i call “Aloha,” a kind of radiant positive at-
name on the lips of more Malagasy people out in ev- titude that overpowers the negative forces so often
ery remote place in Madagascar than any other vazaha arrayed on all sides in our kind of complicated en-
who has anything to do with nature. In this juncture, deavors. He is at once both a dead-serious academic
I remember visiting one particularly remote cave in administrator and a top-notch scientist in his several
Madagascar. At the nearest village, while doing my chosen fi elds. At the same time, he is more fun to be
visite de courtoisie—showing my papers, fi nding out around than anybody of his academic stature whom I
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