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Exploring Madagascar: A Quiz on Culture, History, and Geography

Test your knowledge on Madagascar's rich history, culture, and unique geography with this engaging quiz.

#Madagascar #Geography #History #Culture #Trivia

1 16th century 1500–1822  Brazil 1536–1620  ________

2 What is the leader of Madagascar called?

3 Who of the following is/was the leader of Madagascar?

4 From about 1774 to 1824, Madagascar was a favourite haunt for pirates, including Americans, one of whom brought Malagasy rice to ________.

5 What is the national anthem of Madagascar?

6 ________ are concentrated in the provinces of Mahajanga and Antsiranana (Diego Suarez).

7 The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are ________ to Madagascar.

8 What timezone is Madagascar in during daylight savings?

9 The written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century,[10] when ________ established trading posts along the northwest coast.

10 The ________ is of Malayo-Polynesian origin and is generally spoken throughout the island.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • in an Air Madagascar DC-4 crash in 1967 at Antananarivo Airport, among those killed was the Malagasy foreign minister Albert Sylla.
  • one colony of the Madagascar bat Triaenops menamena contained an estimated 40,000 individuals.
  • possible relatives of the extinct Madagascar mammal Plesiorycteropus include hedgehogs, aardvarks, and hyraxes, and its remains have been misidentified as rodents and the giant aye-aye.
  • between 2000 and 2008, 39 new species of lemur (Ring-tailed Lemur pictured) were described in Madagascar, bringing the total number of recognized species and subspecies to 99.
  • as recently as 500 years ago, the island of Madagascar was inhabited by giant lemurs, referred to as subfossil lemurs, that weighed between 10 and 200 kg (22 and 440 lb).
  • although the Malagasy bat Neoromicia malagasyensis was first collected in 1967, it was not formally described until 1995.
  • although the giant fossa, formerly one of the top carnivores of Madagascar, is thought to be extinct, there is some anecdotal evidence of very large living fossas.
  • the Cretaceous Malagasy mammal Lavanify is most closely related to a species from India.
  • the Madagascar bat Paratriaenops auritus has a noseleaf with three straight, about equally long lancets.
  • the extinct Hipposideros besaoka was the largest insectivorous bat of Madagascar.
  • the type specimen of Kinkonychelys represents the first turtle skull described from the pre-Holocene era in Madagascar.
  • the Blue Vanga is the only vanga occurring outside of Madagascar.
  • the mossy leaf-tail gecko (pictured) of Madagascar possesses dermal flaps which disguise its outline.
  • the Malagasy bat species Pipistrellus raceyi is characterized by a long, straight penis.
  • the Silky Sifaka is a white, diurnal rainforest sifaka found solely within a small area of northeastern Madagascar.
  • although no fossils of the extinct Malagasy Hippopotamus have been dated within the last 1,000 years, villagers in Madagascar described a similar creature still alive as recently as 1976.
  • Triaenops goodmani, an extinct bat from Madagascar, is known only from three lower jaws.
  • Cyclone Elita in January 2004 crossed Madagascar three times, an unusual event but not unprecedented.
  • Didiereaceae is a family of cactus-like flowering plants that make up the spiny thickets of Madagascar.
  • Jacques Rabemananjara, former Vice President of Madagascar, was also an important negritude poet and playwright.
  • Claire's Mouse Lemur is a newly described species of primate that only lives on Nosy Bé, an island near Madagascar.
  • Madagascar's unique wildlife, such as the Red-bellied Lemur, is one of the country's main tourist attractions.
  • France's Madagascar expedition of 1883 (bombing action pictured) was triggered by the will to remove British economic and religious influence from the island of Madagascar.
  • lemurs (pictured) are primates that evolved and diversified on the island of Madagascar after arriving there at least 56 million years ago on a raft of vegetation.
  • Jean Ralaimongo came to prominence in 1929 after 3,000 demonstrated following speeches in a cinema in Madagascar.
  • Joseph-François Lambert was a French adventurer who tried to overthrow the "Mad Queen" Ranavalona I of Madagascar.
  • Beccariophoenix alfredii, a newly discovered species of palm tree native to Madagascar, has a similar appearance to the Coconut palm, but is cold hardier.
  • Kalanchoe pinnata (pictured), a succulent plant native to Madagascar, has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago as being used as a traditional treatment for high blood pressure.
  • Ambondro, which lived in Madagascar about 167 million years ago, is the oldest known mammal with modern, tribosphenic molars.
  • William Louis Abbott, American doctor and philanthropist, went to Madagascar to enlist in the native army against the second French occupation of the island.
  • Ratsimilaho established the Betsimisaraka who make up 15% of Madagascar's population.
  • UA 8699, a broken molar from the Cretaceous of Madagascar, may be a fragment of the only Mesozoic marsupial from the southern continents.
  • crayfish of the Madagascan genus Astacoides have fewer gills than any other crayfish.
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