Lost And Found

For Bernhard Meier, a quest through Madagascar's leech-infested rain forests ended with blood poisoning, malaria, an injured knee -- and glorious success. A primatologist at Ruhr University in Bochum, West Germany, Meier had been tracking the hairy-eared dwarf lemur, the world's second smallest primate, which scientists had never seen alive. Last week he revealed that he had captured and photographed one of the mouse-size creatures.

Lemurs, which are found only in Madagascar and the nearby Comoro Islands, are of great interest because they are thought to resemble the common ancestor of man, monkeys and apes that lived 50 million years ago. Meier, who helped discover two other types of lemur, made his latest find with the aid of a stray dog, who located the tree hole where the nocturnal animal was sleeping. Although five specimens were preserved for museums between 1875 and 1965, scientists knew little about them. Meier found that they are about 14 cm (5.5 in.) long, with a slightly longer furry tail, and weigh less than a chocolate bar. After releasing his quarry, Meier watched as the animal stuffed insects into its mouth while swinging from branches by its hind legs. "I almost died laughing," he says.

Meier hopes his find will call attention to Madagascar's diverse but vanishing flora and fauna. One-quarter of Africa's plants exist only on Madagascar; more than 90% of the island's wildlife is unique. Agriculture has wiped out most of the forests and many animal species, including 14 types of lemur. Undiscovered species may lurk in the remaining jungle, but, warns Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, "unless their habitat is protected, they may all isappear."