Alaotran gentle lemur  (Hapalemur alaotrensis)

The Alaotran gentle lemur is extremely threatened due to its highly restricted range and specialised habitat. The area around Lac Alaotra is the largest area in Madagascar developed for rice cultivation and vast areas of the reed bed habitat have been burned and drained (1) to make way for paddy fields (6). In addition, reeds are themselves harvested for products such as mats, fish traps, screens and fencing (6). The species is also under pressure from hunting both for food and for the pet trade (6); deliberate fires are sometimes lit to force fleeing lemurs into the path of hunters (3).

Lac Alaotra was declared a Ramsar site in 2003, with the aim of conserving biodiversity and the wetland ecosystem, and there are also plans to create a strict conservation area covering the site. Public awareness campaigns have focused on the benefits of habitat conservation to the people living around the lake, and a regional fishing convention bans lemur hunting and marsh burning (1). The Alaotran gentle lemur is protected from international trade by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (4). There are currently small captive breeding programmes in several institutions, including at the Durrell Conservation Trust in Jersey (1) (2) (7). The highly restricted nature of this species' distribution however, means that it is vital that some of its habitat is protected to prevent yet another member of Madagascar's unique fauna from being lost.