Lemurs and Spies on BBC2
Lemurs & Spies is a fascinating and moving documentary centered on the beautiful and rugged, rainforest-clad park of Marojejy, in North-east Madagascar.
This wildlife-rich rainforest is home to one of the world’s rarest primates, the critically endangered Silky Sifaka, which has a global population of some 300 individuals. The program details the intensive studies primatologist Erik Patel has been conducting for more than a decade under often spartan conditions in this remote wilderness, part of the Rainforests of Atsinanana, a World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, these rainforests are now on the UNESCO’s Endangered World Heritage Site List .
During his time at Marojejy, Erik Patel – in combination with a dedicated network of conservationists and NGOs - collaborated on a campaign aimed at trying to stop the logging of endemic rosewoods and ebonies from the island’s protected areas. Patel escorted many journalists and television crews around north-eastern Madagascar, with a view to increasing international awareness to the threats facing Madagascar’s fragile remaining forests, where new discoveries are still being made all the time.
Silky sifaka & young by Eric Mathieu
It is thanks to the work of Erik Patel and others working in north-east Madagascar’s Sava region such as Eric Mathieu – who photographed the Silky Sifakas – that this enigmatic lemur stands a better chance of survival. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, the program promises to be memorable with some stunning visuals.
Watch Lemurs & Spies on BBC2, 15 March 2012 at 8pm
