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 Although Madagascar's famous lemurs have been the subject of a great deal of scientific interest, researchers have spent little time studying the island’s much rarer predators. Seven of the eight civet-like carnivores that stalk Madagascar's forests are found nowhere else in the world. The habits of many are virtually unknown, their population status a mystery. Dr. Luke Dollar and Leon Pierrot Rahajanirina, working with veterinarian Dr. Julie Pomerantz are assessing and monitoring the size and density of carnivore populations in these remarkable forests. Their research comes in the nick of time, as deforestation and hunting for bush meat threatens many of these unique mammals and their habitats.
 In the summer of 2005, Tara Breckheimer, Minnesota Zoo Education Naturalist and Interpretive Guide, spent 2.5 weeks in Madagascar working with the Carnivores of Madagascar research project as an Earthwatch volunteer in Kirindy Mitea National Wildlife Reserve. Up before the sun, Tara rotated between a variety of tasks. Often hiking more than 20 kilometers a day, she learned how to set fossa traps and use radio-tracking transmitters and receivers to track collared fossa and other small carnivores. She checked trap lines in the early morning and late afternoon on a daily basis often not finishing until near midnight. Tara helped transport and measure and radio collar trapped and sedated carnivores. In her time with the project, 12 fossas were captured, collared and released, a phenomenal number considering that many of the research teams are lucky to see one or two and some never see any at all. Tara’s daily life in Kirindy Mitea involved camping under the stars and really roughing it: setting up a field camp, cooking her own food, hauling her own water, subsisting on rice and beans or anything else that could be made with rice and beans, and truly testing her mettle!
Tara takes with her the following from one of their Madagascan field assistants named Piero, “I believe the beauties of my country will be saved or lost forever within the next ten years. Madagascar needs so much help so thank-You for helping and thank your Zoo too.” The U. S. Seal Conservation Grant Program awarded Tara $1800 to cover a portion of her travel and program costs to participate in the project.
Read more Zoo conservation projects.
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