The Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor (CAZ) is a large area of protected forest biome in eastern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. The CAZ encompasses some 3,810 km, making it one of the largest areas of rainforest remaining in the country. Over 2,000 species of plants have been recorded in the CAZ, nearly 1,700 of which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the region. This area is the main source of water in the eastern and western part of Madagascar. It received the status of a natural resource reserve in 2015.

Flora and fauna

The CAZ is an area of enormous biodiversity: fifteen species of

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

have been recorded in it, at least three of which (the

indri The indri (; ''Indri indri''), also called the babakoto, is one of the largest living lemurs, with a head-body length of about and a weight of between . It has a black and white coat and maintains an upright posture when climbing or clinging. ...

, the

black-and-white ruffed lemur The black-and-white ruffed lemur (''Varecia variegata'') is an endangered species of ruffed lemur, one of two which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller populati ...

'','' and the

diademed sifaka The diademed sifaka (''Propithecus diadema''), or diademed simpona, is an endangered species of sifaka, one of the lemurs endemic to certain rainforests in eastern Madagascar. Along with the indri, this species is one of the two largest living l ...

) are known to be

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

. Some 30 other mammal species, 129 amphibian species, and 89

avian Avian may refer to: *Birds or Aves, winged animals *Avian (given name) (russian: Авиа́н, link=no), a male forename Aviation *Avro Avian, a series of light aircraft made by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s *Avian Limited, a hang glider manufacture ...

species have been recorded in the CAZ.

References

External links

Protected areas of Madagascar Alaotra-Mangoro Protected areas established in 2007 {{Madagascar-geo-stub

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links