ISLANDS

Madagascar (Island)

The world's fourth-largest island, off the southeastern coast of Africa, a biological wonderland where lemurs and 80 percent of plant species are endemic.

Geography

Madagascar lies in the western Indian Ocean about 400 km off the coast of Mozambique. The island split from the African mainland around 165 million years ago and from the Indian subcontinent about 88 million years ago.

Biodiversity

About 90 percent of mammals, half of birds, and 95 percent of reptiles on Madagascar are found nowhere else. The lemurs, baobab trees, and tomato frogs are among its most famous endemics.

Deforestation

Madagascar has lost roughly 40 percent of its forest cover since 1950 to slash-and-burn agriculture for rice and cassava, threatening many endemic species.

Find more islands by letter

Madagascar (Island) starts with M and ends with D. Browse other islands along the same letter.

Islands that contain a letter from "Madagascar (Island)":