Unique place

Some 88 million years ago, the island of Madagascar, which is now off the coast of Africa, was part of India. But when the continents moved apart the island became isolated. As a result, many plants and animals there developed in their own way. 

Unique plant and animal life

Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island and has a unique plant and animal life. Seventy-five percent of Madagascar’s animals and plants exist only on this island. Madagascar is best known for its lemurs, of which there are 28 species on the island. Chameleons are also typical of Madagascar. Half of all their species come from this island. 

Deforestation due to slash-and-burn farming

However, there are huge problems of water pollution and soil erosion on Madagascar.

Only four percent of the original rain forest still exists. The reason is that the trees have been cut down and people are doing slash-and-burn farming. This means that they burn an area of forest so they can grow crops. After a while, the soil is no longer fertile and becomes a dry plain where only grass grows.