Beza Mahafaly Reserve
Encyclopedia
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
in Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
located 35 kilometres (21.7 mi) northeast of Betioky Sud. The Reserve also provides training and research opportunities. It consists of a fenced gallery forest
Gallery forest
Gallery forests are evergreen forests that form as corridors along rivers or wetlands and project into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands or deserts....
, approximately 100 hectares (247.1 acre), separated by 8 kilometres (5 mi) from a 520 hectares (1,284.9 acre) gallery of arid spiny forest
Madagascar spiny thickets
The Madagascar spiny thickets is an ecoregion in Madagascar. The vegetation type is found on poor substrates with low, erratic winter rainfall. An estimated 14,000 to is covered with this habitat, all in the southwest of the country...
. The reserve also contains a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
which are open to tourists.
Tree species featured in the two galleries include tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
trees and Madagascar ocotillo
Madagascar ocotillo
Madagascar ocotillo or Alluaudia, is a deciduous succulent plant species of the family Didiereaceae. It is native to Madagascar. Although strikingly similar in appearance, it is not closely related to the ocotillo. Young alluaudias form a tangle of stems that last for several years after which a...
, among many others. Animals residing in the galleries include four species of lemur
Lemur
Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...
s, four species of tenrecs, 17 species of saurians, 12 species of snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, two species of tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
s and, in season, the Nile crocodile
Nile crocodile
The Nile crocodile or Common crocodile is an African crocodile which is common in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, South Africa, Malawi, Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon...
. There are also over a hundred different species of bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s.
| Viewing time | Species |
|---|---|
| Daytime |
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| Nighttime |
Petter's Sportive Lemur Petter's sportive lemur is a sportive lemur endemic to Madagascar. It is one of the smaller sportive lemurs with a total length of about 49 to 54 centimeters, of which 22-25 centimeters are tail. Petter's sportive lemur is found in southwestern Madagascar, living in dry spiny forests and some... (Lepilemur petteri) Gray Mouse Lemur The gray mouse lemur , or lesser mouse lemur, is a small lemur, a type of strepsirrhine primate, found only on the island of Madagascar. Weighing , it is the largest of the mouse lemurs , a group which include the smallest primates in the world... (Microcebus murinus) Reddish-gray Mouse Lemur The reddish-gray mouse lemur also known as the gray-brown mouse lemur or rufous-gray mouse lemur, is found in Western Madagascar in the region around Beza Mahafaly Reserve, north to Lamboharana.... (Microcebus griseorufus) Fat-tailed dwarf lemur The fat-tailed dwarf lemur , also known as the lesser dwarf lemur, western fat-tailed dwarf lemur, or spiny forest dwarf lemur, is one of the smallest primates. It is endemic to Madagascar.... (Cheirogaleus medius) |
