Red-ruffed lemur conservation programme
The Red-ruffed lemur (Varecia rubra) is listed as “Critically Endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List (IUCN).
The species’ geographical range is restricted to northeastern Madagascar, in the primary forests of Masoala peninsula and Antongil Bay. Highly threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and poaching, its wild population is plummeting.
Activities
In order to conserve this lemur that is one of the island’s rarest, the Malagasy primatologist Josia Razafindramanana, who founded the NGO IMPACT Madagadar, and her team have undertaken field studies to better understand the species biology as well as to assess the nature and the extent of the threats to its survival. Following the result of these studies and considering the dramatic situation of several small groups of red-ruffed lemurs trapped in forest patches doomed to disappear, it was decided to move them to a viable and protected habitat.
Anesthesia prior to the translocation © IMPACT Madagascar 
Release aviary © Bioparc
In 2018 and 2019, 5 individuals were released in Farankaraina, a 1600-hectare forest located in the heart of Antongil Bay. They are monitored by two local guides supervised by IMPACT Madagascar and assisted by the NGO Antongil Conservation which is implanted in the area since 1999 and has been entrusted with the management of the forest of Farankaraina since 2006. To protect this important site, Antongil Conservation employs a team of agents who fight against illegal activities (logging, poaching), maintain the area and monitor the fauna and the flora.
Radio telemetry tracking © IMPACT Madagascar 
Monitoring © IMPACT Madagascar
In 2021, three births were observed in the translocated group, a sign that the red-ruffed lemurs have settled very well in their new environment!
In the coming years, the area could also welcome European captive-born red-ruffed lemurs in order to permanently reestablish the species in that forest from which it has disappeared and thus strengthen the existing wild population.
Palmyre Conservation has been supporting the conservation work of IMPACT Madagascar on red-ruffed lemurs since 2016.