Jolly Alison - Thank you, Madagascar: the conservation diaries of Alison Jolly

About the author

A LISON J OLLY (May 9, 1937February 6, 2014) was a primatologist known for her studies of lemur biology. She wrote for both popular and scientific audiences and conducted extensive fieldwork on lemurs in Madagascar, primarily at the Berenty Reserve, a small private reserve of gallery forest set in the semi-arid spiny desert area in the far south of Madagascar.

Thank you, Madagascar

The conservation diaries
of Alison Jolly

ALISON JOLLY

Zed Books
London

To all the people of Madagascar
who work for the good of their country.

And especially to my friend and colleague
Dr Hantanirina Rasamimanana

Thank you, Madagascar: The Conservation Diaries of Alison Jolly was first published in 2015 by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK

This ebook edition was first published in 2005

www.zedbooks.co.uk

Copyright Margaretta Jolly 2015

The right of Alison Jolly to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Designed and typeset by illuminati, Grosmont Index by John Barker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781783603183 hb

ISBN 9781783603190 pdf

ISBN 9781783603206 epub

ISBN 9781783603213 mobi

Contents

Hilary Bradt

INTRODUCTION Margaretta Jolly
My adventurous and astonishing mother

Acknowledgements

F or their very helpful comments on the manuscript, I thank David Attenborough, Keith Bezanson, Melanie Dammhahn, Ann Downer-Hazell, Lee Durrell, Franois Falloux, David Foster, Jrg Ganzhorn, Lisa Gaylord, Jacques Grin, Jane Goodall, Frans Lanting, Mia-Lana Lhrs, Bernhard Meier, Russ Mittermeier, Emma Napper, Dai Peters, Joe Peters, Peter Porter Lowry III, Johny Rabenantoandro, Lon Rajaobelina, Ny Fanja Rakotomalala, Joelisoa Ratsirarson, Alison Richard, Takayo Soma, Eleanor Sterling, Manon Vincelette, Pat Wright. Also to Hantanirina Rasamimanana and the support she has been given by the cole Normale Suprieure and by her precious family, her husband Niry Ratovonirina and sons Andou, Zo and Tsilavina. And all the photographers who kindly sent photos, particularly Cyril Ruoso for the magical cover image. I also thank Andrea Cornwall for her help in suggesting the inspirational Zed Books, and Lucy at illuminati.

And then I thank my wonderfully supportive family: my husband of fifty years Richard Jolly, and my four children, Margaretta, Susan, Arthur and Richard Brabazon Jolly.

Foreword

A lison Jolly was known in the academic world for her ground-breaking work as a primatologist, but somehow that title feels wrong. It conjures up the image of a soulless scientist, whilst Alison was one of the warmest, funniest and most passionate women that you could meet. More than any other person she was instrumental in initiating me, so by extension the thousands who read my guide to Madagascar, into a 38year love affair with the island in all its diversity and complexity.

I first came to Madagascar as a tourist in 1976, with zero knowledge of the wildlife. When I saw my first lemurs in Nosy Komba I thought the sexually dimorphic black lemurs (only the males are black) were two different species. By that time Alison had been studying ring-tailed lemurs in Berenty for fourteen years and was the expert on the subject. So when I was asked to lead a pioneering tour of Madagascar in 1982 I bought her book A World Like Our Own: Man and Nature in Madagascar. It changed my life. Here was a description of all aspects of this lovely, but challenging country, with intimate portraits of lemurs but also of the people and the dilemmas of promoting conservation in an island where poverty is rife. In that book I also met Richard Jolly in the dedication. Tell the whole story, he said; ecology with people, not just your animals. And thats what she did, with Richards continuing encouragement, for the rest of her life. Lemurs were only part of the picture, not the obsessive whole, because she knew and understood the peoplefrom dignitaries to peasantsas well as she knew the lemurs. A World Like Our Own showcased Alison the writer. Her talent for narrative and description is the equal of the very best of our travel writers, and brought the island of Madagascar to the notice of the general public for the first time. For a while we had a lively correspondence about the possibility of my reissuing the book as a paperback, which sadly never happened, but it gave me an excuse to get to know her and she was a generous contributor to many editions of my guidebooks.

Alison was surely the funniest primatologist ever; not, I think, through any conscious effort, but because thats how she was. Her humour was infectious. You might start a serious discussion about lemur behavior but end up hooting with laughter over the lighter side of Madagascar. Also Alison was as anthropomorphic about lemurs as the rest of us. When the albino lemur Sapphire (subject of a TV programme) died, she told me The death of Little Nell was nothing compared with our reactions to the demise of this little lemur. Where she was absolutely serious, however, was when discussing conservation issues where her views were her own and based on her intimate knowledge of the country, rather than popular but less informed, opinion. Thus she came down firmly on the side of the controversial Rio Tinto titanium mineand I cant imagine that anyone listening to her arguments could have disagreed with her. As she said: If you think that people and forest will somehow muddle through before the hills are scraped as bare as Haiti, then there is no reason to think that money and organization will improve life. If you look at the statistics of forest loss, you opt for the mine.

Perhaps her most accessible book of all was Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists, Kings with Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar. It is Alison at her best: funny, fascinating and illuminating. Anyone who has been to, or is thinking of going to, Berenty can enjoy it.

So we come to her last book, dictated during the final months of her life, but based on the diaries she wrote during all those changing decades in Madagascar. And as you read you understand that she wrote because she had to. Her work in Madagascar threw up so many triumphs, frustrations, joys and disappointments that a natural writer like Alison needed to record them. And how lucky we are that she could do it so well, and that Zed Books is bringing these unique accounts to all those who love Madagascar, whether tourist, nature lover, dedicated conservationist or professional primatologist. What a legacy!

Hilary Bradt

INTRODUCTION

My adventurous and astonishing mother

A lison Jolly overturned established thinking after becoming the first scientist to do an in-depth field study of the behaviour of the ring-tailed lemur, L. catta, beginning work in Madagascar in 1962 as a young graduate from Yale. She discovered that this speciesand as it turned out almost all other lemurshave female dominance over males, breaking the then orthodoxy that primates were male-dominant. As she later joked, the king of the DreamWorks animation