The Hawksbill turtle is a critically endangered marine species which lives in tropical oceans. It is renowned for its beautiful yellow and brown marbled shell, which also makes it a target in the illegal turtle shell trade. Its activity is crucial to the health of the marine ecosystem because it provides space for corals to grow when it dislodges sponges from the surface of the reef.

Shrimp fishing generates income for thousands of fishermen in the Indian Ocean and the sector benefits from how lucrative it is to export shrimp to Europe and Japan. However, the industrial shrimp fishery in Madagascar is currently in crisis, with a major decline in catches during the last ten years due to overfishing facilitated by loose regulation.

The Madagascar plover is small, monogamous bird which lives in the wetlands on Madagascar’s west and south coasts. It is extremely selective with which habitats it chooses for living and breeding, which means that fertility has decreased with the continuing deforestation of the mangrove, its main habitat. It also exhibits a very low survivorship rate among young individuals, exacerbating the population loss of recent years.

The radiated tortoise is a critically endangered species endemic to the dry forest in the south of Madagascar. It is unique because of its beautifully ornate “radiated” pattern shell. Due to the lack of economic prospects in the region, tortoise poaching for illegal international trade has become widespread.

The iconic Ring-tailed lemur is known for its extreme adaptability. Although the species has been found in the hottest and the coldest areas of Madagascar, rampant deforestation has decimated its preferred habitat in the spiny forests of the South. It is the most common primate in captivity, but its numbers in the wild diminish daily because of hunting, domestication and habitat loss.