Animals Populated Madagascar by Rafting There
January 29, 2010
…from Purdue University News Service…
“How did the lemurs, flying foxes and narrow-striped mongooses get to the large, isolated island of Madagascar sometime after 65 million years ago?
“A pair of scientists say their research confirms the longstanding idea that the animals hitched rides on natural rafts blown out to sea.
“The raft hypothesis has always been the most plausible, says Anne Yoder, director of the Duke University Lemur Center. She specializes in using molecular biogenetic techniques and geospatial analysis to examine the evolutionary history of Madagascar. But Ali and Huber’s study now puts hard data behind it, says the Duke professor of biology, biological anthropology and anatomy.”
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