The golden discovery
In 1986, primatologist Dr. Patricia Wright was searching the rainforests of southeastern Madagascar for the greater bamboo lemur, a species thought to be extinct. Instead, she found a species entirely new to science: the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus). This discovery directly led to the formation of Ranomafana National Park on May 31, 1991, to protect the habitat of this rare primate. The park now covers 41,600 hectares (161 square miles) of mountainous rainforest, an area that is now part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The golden bamboo lemur is a scientific mystery. It feeds almost exclusively on another local endemic, the giant bamboo Cathariostachys madagascariensis. The growing shoots of this bamboo contain high concentrations of cyanide, about 0.015%. Each day, an adult lemur eats around 500 grams of bamboo. This means it ingests approximately 12 times the lethal dose of cyanide for an animal of its size, yet it suffers no ill effects. The precise biological mechanism that allows the lemur to metabolize the poison remains unknown. This physiological trait is a subject of ongoing research at the Centre ValBio, a modern research station established by Stony Brook University located adjacent to the park.