In general the word ‘tradition’ evokes many negative emotions amongst conservationists. We hear ‘traditional medicine’ and think of the thousands of tigers butchered under the ignorant belief that their parts can cure ailments ranging from mouth ulcers to malaria. We hear ‘traditional cure’ and are cursed with the images of rhinos and elephants brutally left to bleed to death under the idiotic conjecture that their horns and tusks increase virility and even cure cancer. Not to mention the threats from ‘traditional symbolism’ and its monochromatic ideas that ingesting shark fin soup promotes wealth, or trophy hunting displays power and supremacy.

With such a storm cloud of negativity it has surprised me to discover that the erosion of some traditions can be just as damaging as many of those that have been preserved.

Malagasy culture generally dictates that animals have souls and can therefore bestow good will, or act vengefully in death. Lemurs penetrate this ideology further in that they are believed to be ancestral humans that when lost in the forest were forced to adapt and diversify. Clans across Madagascar have adopted individual species of lemur as their own individual ancestors, and colourful stories locally known as fadys, dictating how one should act in their presence (usually that killing/eating them is forbidden) permeate history.

Endemic to Madagascar, lemurs are one of the most endangered primate groups in the world. 40% of the 101 taxa are red-listed in one of the threatened categories (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) and a further 45% are recorded as Data Deficient. Since the arrival of humans on the island 2000 years ago, 8 genera and at least 17 species have become extinct. Why then, in a country where tradition dictates the preservation of a species, are those species in decline?

It is widely know that Madagascar has been heavily deforested. Conservatively, an estimated 28,500km² of primary forest was lost between 1992 and 2011. Much of this deforestation is attributed to industry, and with industry comes migration. A paper published in PLOS one in 2011 investigated lemur exploitation and noted that “Rapid immigration is known to cause social change and is often associated with rapid economic development, such as mineral extraction or tourism, and immigrants to an area are less likely to respect local traditions.” Furthermore, when bush-meat enters the equation, it appears that many migrants and workers that have moved from subsistence farming to other more lucrative work are unknowingly chipping away at tradition in their leisure time “They spend more time in local bars, eating fried meat snacks with their drinks. Lemur hunting appears to have increased to supply this new market. It is also possible that people (especially young adults) who observe someone else consuming [bush-meat] without incurring any visible negative impacts may be more inclined to ignore the fady in the future”.

Culture is dynamic and often replacing tradition with knowledge is a favourable transition, but in this case the beliefs being phased out are the ones that can compliment conservation efforts. In 2006 Madagascar updated their wildlife legislation in accordance with the IUCN and CITES however the cruelty of irony has seen that it is much more difficult to dictate a cultural change than to diffuse into one, and remaining traditionalists do not understand nor accept governance.

I can’t help but feel deeply frustrated. Tradition protected lemurs, Industrial development eroded tradition, science and conservation is now trying to protect lemurs, but tradition defies modern law. For the moment at least, the inspirations for traditions, those beautiful and charismatic lemurs are still a part of our present and I for one won’t stop trying to keep them here. Though it pains me to think that the fadys of the future may talk less of the Indri who joined human souls to the lemurs of the forest, and more of the industries that led human souls astray and lemurs to a desert.

David Attenborough’s Madagascar.

Article image- Jenna Barry, 2008

Locomoting animals show remarkable diversity and capability. From the ease at which a gibbon can swing through the trees, to the profound efficiency of the hops of a kangaroo. Some of the more perplexing and intriguing modes of movement are documented in our more miniature companions to whom the smallest crevice can seem a gargantuan ravine. Life in the undergrowth often means negotiating relative Grand Canyons repeatedly, and it appears that both the cockroach and the gecko have an innovative solution for survival.

To the naked eye, when pursued along an incline towards an edge with no escape, both geckos and cockroaches miraculously and seamlessly continue to run over the edge and back down the incline on the underside. The manoeuvre was baffling to the team at the University of California, however when filmed at high speed and viewed at a reduced frame rate all was revealed. Both animals ran flat out, and with no reduction in speed leapt from their ‘cliff edge’ only to grasp with their hind legs producing a pendulum like inversion allowing a completely continuous, albeit upside-down run onwards.

This wonderful analysis inspired Biologists and Engineers to put their heads together dissecting the movement in a way that was computational to robotics, and a small mechanical mimic was born. The hexapedal robot named DASH can execute the inversion relying on velcro hind hooks, and can navigate much more complex terrain than previous types of rover.

So why, you may be wondering, is this worth the time and investment? Whilst superhero style scrambles over buildings are not on the horizon (of which it’s acceptable to be a little disappointed), the scientists involved sum up their truly heroic ambitions perfectly in their publication-  ”We have designed robots that can run or climb, but few can do both and effectively transition from one surface to another. We anticipate that the quantification of acrobatic behaviors in small animals will continue to provide biological inspiration resulting in small, more highly mobile sentinel and search-and-rescue robots that assist us during natural and human-made disasters.”

The team have a long way to go in terms of replicating the efficiency at which this type of locomotion is carried out by their little legged inspirations, however the continued quest has extremely important prospects stretching from the afore mentioned rescue rovers through to more stable and intuitive artificial limbs and wheelchairs.

Studies like this highlight that many of our most perplexing questions can already be answered by Mother Nature, it is simply a case of asking her!

Article Image- PolyPEDAL Lab/PLoS One 2012