Madagascar: From crisis to conservation opportunity

Featured speaker: Andrea Baden, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York

Andrea Baden is a biological anthropologist with training in behavioral and molecular ecology. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to answer broad evolutionary questions about lemur adaptation and evolution.Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, is home to more than 12,000 plant and 700 vertebrate species, 80 to 90 percent of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Sadly, much of this biodiversity is currently threatened by human activity, making it among the hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world. In her talk, primatologist and lemur specialist Andrea Baden will describe her recent work with Madagascar’s critically endangered ruffed lemur (Genus Varecia) – an important seed disperser and indicator of rainforest health – and how her results are being used to inform conservation practice in an effort to save them.This lecture is co-sponsored by the Living Earth Collaborative and the STL Zoo.

Free Admission, No reservations needed.