New animals at Zazamalala

When feeding the tortoises, we suddenly saw a baby Brown mongose (Mungotictis decemlineata) in the botanical garden. Probably left by its mother when she saw us approaching. A quick picture and then a retreat.

There are currently 16 snake species confirmed at Zazamalala, but a new one may be the nocturnal Southern Malagasy cat-eyed snake (Madagascarophis meridionalis).

One of our Chinese visitors discovered 2 songbirds, until then unknown to us: Blue Vanga (Cyanolanius madagascarinus), which is the only vanga found outside Madagascar (Comoro islands). And Chabert’s vanga (Leptopterus chabert), a small black songbird with a beautiful blue glow when receiving sunlight.

A new raptor seen at Zazamalala is the Madagascar cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda madagascariensis). A brown and white secretive bird of prey that feeds silently on lizards in the tree crowns.