The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur is a book about a critically-endangered species; fractured ecosystems; and the global war on nature. It is a compelling story in which author Michael Stephen Clark reveals the fundamental paradox of the mongoose lemur’s natural history.

The mongoose lemur Eulemur mongoz is native to NW Madagascar where it survives in severely fragmented habitat. It was long ago introduced to Anjouan in the neighbouring Comoro Islands, where it appears to be thriving as a naturalised species. The prospects for free-living populations of mongoose lemurs vary considerably, but all are subject to alarming rates of habitat destruction. The captive population, itself scattered across the world in various zoos, is also diffuse and disconnected. Fragmentation is, therefore, a fact of life for the mongoose lemur.

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur is a modern natural history that also includes personal memoir and journalistic commentary. It is a book about a species whose destiny has been utterly compromised by human interference of one kind or another. It will only survive the anthropogenically-driven “sixth great extinction” as a viable being if we deem it so. Its story has been (and will be) repeated for many other organisms on our planet until they become little more than a distant memory.