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A Coupled Humanitarian and Biodiversity Crisis in Western Madagascar

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Abstract

The unsustainable hunting and consumption of primates destabilizes both wildlife populations and the humans who depend upon them. This is especially pertinent in Madagascar—one of the world’s poorest, least food secure, and most biodiverse countries. The people of Kirindy Mitea National Park have faced numerous famines during the prior decade. Although the park is one of Madagascar’s highest conservation priorities, researchers have yet to study the interactions between food insecurity, dietary diversity, and lemur hunting at this location. To address this gap and provide foundational data for primate conservation as well as public health policy, we surveyed forest resource exploitation, nutrition, and food security in a village adjacent to the park (N = 89 households) over 6 months (September 2018 to March 2019). We observed high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Of the study participants, one third had eaten a forest animal during the prior year. Of all taxa, lemurs, tenrecs, and bushpigs were hunted in the greatest numbers. Less food-secure households were more likely to hunt nonthreatened animals, such as tenrecs. Lemurs comprised one third of all wildlife consumed; households ate a mean of five (± SD 11) lemurs during the prior year. Food insecurity significantly increased within-household lemur consumption, especially the Critically Endangered red-tailed sportive lemur (Lepilemur ruficaudatus) and Vulnerable red-fronted brown lemur (Eulemur rufifrons). Our results indicate that Kirindy Mitea is among the most heavily hunted national parks in Madagascar. Given the region’s fragile environment and challenging living conditions for both its primate and human communities, the effects of hunting may be especially severe.

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Anonymized datasets are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Government of Madagascar for the permission to conduct research, along with the Madagascar Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Conservation (MICET) for facilitating this study. We thank Dr. Rebecca Lewis and the team at Ankoatsifaka Research Station for their assistance in developing community relationships, logistical planning, and initial insights into hunting behavior in the region that inspired this study. We thank our local research assistants and guides, who remain unnamed to protect their identities. We thank our study community for welcoming both us and our work, generously participating in the interviews, and sharing their lives with us. Our work is both for, and because of, them. We thank Katherine Kling who assisted with the pilot study. We also thank Dr. Carl Safina, Dr. Carola Borries, Pat Paladines, Dr. Gena Sbeglia, and Dr. Gregory Ruf for comments and discussions that helped shape this study; and the anonymous reviewers, the associate editor, and the editor of the journal, whose constructive comments helped us to improve the paper. We thank all the members of the Wright Lab and staff of the Institute for the Conversation of Tropical Environs (ICTE) for their support, encouragement, and ideas throughout this project. This research was funded by grants from the Safina Center’s Kalpana Chawla Launchpad Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (2015213765), Global Wildlife Conservation, Lemur Conservation Action Fund (5095.005-0175), Primate Conservation Inc, Rowe Wright Grant (46), the following Stony Brook University awards: the Madeline Fusco Fellowship, the Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship, the Board of Trustees Dissertation Completion Fellowship; and support from the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Katharine E. T. Thompson, Patricia C. Wright, Claire Surkis, Richard J. Bankoff & Katheryn C. Twiss

  2. Department of Anthropology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA

    Cortni Borgerson

  3. Madagascar Health and Environmental Research (MAHERY), Maroantsetra, Madagascar

    Cortni Borgerson, Jeanne Mathilde Randriamanetsy & Théofrico Alexander Razafindrahasy

  4. The Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Patricia C. Wright, Ryan S. Rothman & Katheryn C. Twiss

  5. Tamàna Tour, Antananarivo, Madagascar

    Mamy Yves Andrianantenaina

  6. Zoology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar

    Niaina Nirina Mahefa Andriamavosoloarisoa

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Carter Daniels

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  1. Katharine E. T. Thompson
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Correspondence to Katharine E. T. Thompson.

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Handling Editor: Joanna M. Setchell

Carter W. Daniels's affiliation reflects his affiliation at the time he contributed to this research; he is now a Quantitative Scientist at Prevail Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Company.

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Thompson, K.E.T., Borgerson, C., Wright, P.C. et al. A Coupled Humanitarian and Biodiversity Crisis in Western Madagascar. Int J Primatol 44, 430–457 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-022-00338-3

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