Ambohitantely Special Reserve is a

wildlife reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologi ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Geography

This reserve is situated in

Analamanga Analamanga is a region in central Madagascar, containing the capital Antananarivo and its surrounding metropolitan area. The region has an area of , and had a population of 4,325,226 in 2018. Administrative divisions Analamanga Region is divided i ...

region, north-west of the town of

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

in the district of

Ankazobe Ankazobe is a municipality in Analamanga Region, in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. It is the administrative capital of Ankazobe District and is situated at 75 km north of the capital Antananarivo (94 km by RN 4). Infrastructure *Ro ...

. It covers of primary rainforests and of grassland savannah. It consists of several sections of the last primary rainforest, on the high plateau in central Madagascar, along with grasslands, caves and waterfalls, at an altitude of to . The mean annual rainfall is . The entrance to the reserve is on route 4, near the village of Arazana and the nearest hotel is at

. The ethnic groups living in and around the reserve are the

Betsileo The Betsileo are a highland ethnic group of Madagascar, the third largest in terms of population. They chose their name, meaning "The Many Invincible Ones", after a failed invasion by King Ramitraho of the Menabe kingdom in the early 19th cent ...

, Betsimisaraka, and

Merina The Merina people (also known as the Imerina, Antimerina, Borizany or Ambaniandro) formerly called Amboalambo are the largest ethnic group in Madagascar.

peoples.

Flora and fauna

The main habitats of the reserve are primary rainforests and grassland savannah. The black-bark tree, Fanola ('' Asteropeia amblyocarpa'') is registered as

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

, and '' Schizolaena tampoketsana'' with its twisted fissured trunk is believed to have only 160–370 mature individuals in existence. Sihara palm ('' Dypsis onilahensis''), Manambe palm ('' Dypsis decipiens''), and rosewood (''

Dalbergia monticola ''Dalbergia monticola'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to Madagascar. It occurs at higher elevation, which gave the species its name. Description Vegetative characters ''Dalbergia monticola'' is ...

'') are all registered as

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

. Three lemur species are found in the reserve:

brown mouse lemur The brown mouse lemur (''Microcebus rufus'') is a small primate, and like the other mouse lemurs can only be found on the island of Madagascar. They are known also as the rufous mouse lemur, eastern rufous mouse lemur, red mouse lemur, or russet ...

(''Microcebus rufus)'',

eastern woolly lemur The eastern woolly lemur (''Avahi laniger''), also known as the eastern avahi or Gmelin's woolly lemur, is a species of woolly lemur native to eastern Madagascar, where it lives in the wet tropical rainforest at low elevations along the eastern ...

(''Avahi laniger''), and

common brown lemur The common brown lemur (''Eulemur fulvus'') is a species of lemur in the family Lemuridae. It is found in Madagascar and has been introduced to Mayotte. Taxonomy Five additional currently recognized species of lemur were until 2001 considered s ...

(''Eulemur fulvus''). Rare birds found in the reserve include the Malagasy harrier (''Circus macrosceles'') and Madagascar ibis (''Lophotibis cristata''). The frog '' Anodonthyla vallani'' is likely occurs only within the reserve. The reserve is the only known habitat of the critically endangered Darth Vader giant pill millipede ('' Zoosphaerium darthvaderi'').

Threats

The area is threatened with

slash-and-burn agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The ...

and irrigation for rice paddies.

References

External links

Madagascar National Parks
{{authority control 1982 establishments in Madagascar Analamanga Special reserves of Madagascar Protected areas established in 1982 Madagascar subhumid forests