Zoo Quest to Madagascar

by David Attenborough

David Attenborough is well known as a leading naturalist and explorer, travelling in little-known countries in search of the rare and exotic, and writing his extrememly popular books about strange encounters and unforgettable scenes. This is the full account of four months he spent travelling several thousand miles throughout the island of Madagascar to meet the varied peoples whose origin stems from the Far East rather than from nearby Africa, study their local customs, and film some of the remarkable animals which occur nowhere else in the world.
Spectacular chamaeleons, nearly three feet in length and gaudily coloured, geckos so well camouflaged they are almost impossible to find, millipedes the size of golf-balls, the ceremonies of turning of the dead and sacrificing to crocodiles-these are some of the things described in this fascinating book. But the principal objective of the expedition was to film and observe the unique, and uniquely charming, lemurs. He saw brown lemurs, gentle lemurs, ruffed lemurs, ringed lemurs and mouse lemurs. He spent days tracking the snow-white sifakas which few naturalists have observed in the wild, witnessed their prodigious leap, watched them play and writes about their affectionate family life. Finally, he heard the "weird, deafening wail" of the legendary indris and day after day returned to the same place in the dense rain forest in the hope of seeing this magnificent lemur. At last he was rewarded with the sight of a big male "sitting astride a branch like a child on a see-saw," two youngsters and an old female carrying a baby on her back. For a week he watched this family, entranced by the indris which "of all the creatures we filmed in Madagascar was the rarest, the least known scientifically, and the most enduring."
David Attenborough is a lively writer with an incredible understanding of nature and acute powers of observation. Whether he is describeding the emergence from its large cocoon of the spectacular Malagasy comet moth, or telling the amusing story of how a tenrec was lost in and recovered from the coachwork of a car, or writing about his painstaking search for the egg fragments of an extinct bird, he brings to bear his vivid descriptive talents which makes this a most rewarding and entertaining book to read.

Genres: Animals, Travel, Nonfiction, Nature, Science, Adventure, Natural History

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a naturalist and broadcaster, who is most well-known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, produced in conjunction with BBC's Natural History Unit. The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005) and Life in Cold Blood (2008).

He is the younger brother of director and actor Richard Attenborough.

Photo credit: Wildscreen's photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive's launch in Bristol, England © May 2003

Reviews

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a young David Attenborough heads off to Madagascar to spot some wildlife and to capture a few animals to take back to London Zoo. I liked his observations on the animals and the culture, but I’m not on board with taking animals out of the wild so that people can stare at them from behind glass screens.

Still, it was mostly pretty good and an interesting retrospective considering Attenborough did all this when he was a young man.

[Janice Bridger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it as brought back memories of visiting Madagascar. Sounds like the place may have actually improved since they visited though, except for the soil erosion. We managed to see more lemurs in the wild than they did including several groups of indris as they have been habituated to tourists. Also includes good mentions of the ancestor worship and turning plus the amusing and adventurous trip looking for flamingo nesting. The chapter on the coelacanth was frustrating as there is still no opportunity to find out much more about these fish really- they all end up being pickled in formalin in scientific institutions.

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb book of that unique author and person. I just did not want and always do not want his books to be read so quickly, I do not want that these truthful, fascinating, filled with love for nature, for animals, for life, for people, brilliant literary works ended so quickly. From this book you will learn many interesting things about the amazing island of Madagascar.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun travelogue of Attenborough's visit to Madagascar in the early 1960s. Interesting to read about what the country was like long before its economic modernisation. Sad to read the conclusion, in which already in the 1960s Attenborough can see the devastation caused by farming and development, and the warning about future loss which has now already happened.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoisia tarinoita Madagaskarin uniikista luonnosta.

[Lucy Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to believe the book is 60 years old. Attenborough does an incredible job of transporting you to a world full of adventure and intrigue and the photos from the expedition are a wonderful bonus.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of an expedition to the land of lemurs, also containing a little folklore.
The penultimate Zoo Quest book.

[Owen Underwood]

Its a fantastic book