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Madagascar is generally considered part of Africa, although it is not actually connected, but its fauna is rather more unusual. p-Primates are the dominant mammals here, with familiar animals, like lemurs, being largely the same as those on home earth. The one major exception is a bizzare family that include the largest landbound predators in Madagascar, the Phobolemurids, meaning 'fearsome lemur'. Unlike other primates, Phobolemurids have a large thumb claw, used to hold onto larger victims and to get a good grip on trees. Phobolemurids are found throughout the old world, the aformentioned Rongo being the largest member, but Madagascar hosts the greatest diversity of these lemurs. Phobolemurids eat anything they can find, from fruit (all species are partly omnivorous) to carrion, but most prefer live prey, often other lemurs or the semiaquatic Malagasy Magnophant, but almost any animal on the island is a potential meal for these intelligent killers. The cosmopolitan Odontaviformes have produced the Ruhk, a massive, toothed, predatory bird from which even smaller Phobolemurids are not safe. Dinosaurs of Madagascar, include the Rokanes, or Deplumornithids, generally small and birdlike featherless descendants of the Noasaurids, found throughout southern Africa and Madagascar.
Sample species:
Mammals[]
- Malagasy magnophant, Aquatelephas madagascarensis
- Phobolemuridae, p-Primates
- False fossa, Phobolemur carnifex
Bids[]
- Ruhk, Venatornis madagascarensis
Dinosaurs[]
- Rokanes, Deplumornithidae