The mammals were still a primitive prototype in the jungles of this new Lemuria.
Like a good daughter of Gondwana, the island of Madagascar was a territory dominated by
the reptiles and amphibians, where plants and invertebrates formed the basis of the
food chain. Arthropods like this giant millipede have inhabited Madagascar since its formation
as an island. Its ancestors were already to be found in the jungles of the distant Gondwana
and since then they have made it possible for the silent hunters of the forest to live.
A Parson’s chameleon, the largest chameleon in the world.
There are two males on the same branch, and inevitably they are fighting. Like two caricatures
of the colossal dinosaurs that dominated the Jurassic world, each chameleon uses its nasal
appendage to try to throw its rival off the branch.
These are two descendents of those reptiles torn from the continent of Africa when Madagascar
became independent, and perhaps the most representative; because the chameleons have diversified here
more than any other place in the world. Today, over half of all existing species of chameleons
live on and are endemic to the island, and they have become the most numerous reptiles
in Madagascar.
Fights between these two giants are spectacular, but don’t generally have serious consequences.
All the violence is concentrated on the protuberances at the end of their heads.
By pushing and occasionally biting, the rivals try to push each other off the branch. They
do not have powerful teeth, and their nails are not designed for combat or hunting, so
the only consequences will be a few bruises and one chameleon whose pride has been wounded.
All the life forms that remained on the island were left behind as evolution hurtled on.
Time stood still here, and among the creatures of the isolated Lemuria evolution was marked
by the ecological changes of the environment in which the species lived. But in the rest
of the world, wherever the continental masses remained communicated, natural selection was
imposing brutal evolutionary laws as a result of direct competition among increasingly well-prepared species
When India separated from Madagascar and crashed into Asia, approximately 80 million years
ago, the mammals were beginning their impressive diversification.
Major geological and climatic changes produced new environments, new ecosystems whose resources
were available for those beings capable of adapting to the new circumstances.
New mountain ranges broke the winds and altered the rainfall patterns. Entire continental
masses changed the currents, altering the climate of the whole planet. Deserts and marshes
appeared, plains were flooded and new jungles arose. Animals and plants had to adapt or
die. And in this changing world, a group of mammals began to emerge supreme due to its
capacity to adapt and diversify: the primates.