A film by Masahiro Hayakawa

WINNER! Best Scientific Content the 2011 International Wildlife Film Festival

About the film
Madagascar is an island like no other. Lying 400 km off the coast of Africa, it’s often referred to as the “seventh continent.” Every corner of Madagascar is inhabited by lemurs – a unique primate found nowhere else on the planet. With more than 100 distinct species, Madagascar’s lemurs are more numerous than any other primate group in the world. How did this come to be? Why did so many species evolve here but nowhere else in the world? Amazingly the answer can be found in the behavior of the tiny Mouse Lemur. Its ability to hibernate might shed light on the very first lemur species. Against all odds, it seems a forlorn castaway from Africa may have been able to survive to reach Madagascar millions of years ago, giving rise to all lemurs that exist today. Alongside the strange lemurs are even stranger beasts... ancient insects, astonishing chameleons, and an aquatic mammal. But this paradise was not destined to remain theirs alone.

Run time: 52 min.

WILD FILMS AT THE LIBRARY is a free series of award-winning international wildlife films selected from the International Wildlife Film Festival. The International Wildlife Film Festival was established in 1977 in Missoula, Montana with a mission to promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of wildlife, habitat, people and nature through excellence in film, television and other media.