By Mikaela Gerwing, PhD Candidate at Concordia University

This year’s International Primatological Society (IPS) Congress took place in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in late July. The opportunity to present at the most prestigious conference in my field was already exciting, even without the possibility of exploring a country that I have dreamed of visiting for as long as I can remember. As a little girl growing up in Canada, I had two main points of reference for anything related to Madagascar. There was the TV show Zoboomafoo, a quirky children’s program whose main character was a Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli). The second was the Dreamworks animated film Madagascar which featured a lion, zebra, giraffe and hippo who escaped the Central Park Zoo and through their misadventure ended up stranded in Madagascar, where they encountered a multitude of lemur species. No matter how much I learned about the country of Madagascar as I grew up, the images from the show and film stuck in my mind. It wasn’t until this trip that I got to truly experience the magic of the real Madagascar.

Thanks to the QCBS, I was able to use the funds I received from an Excellence Award to help finance my trip from Montreal to Antananarivo. The IPS Congress was attended by hundreds of primatologists from across the globe, ranging from students like myself to the top names in our field, people whose papers I have cited for years and never imagined meeting in real life. Every single day of the conference was an overwhelmingly inspiring experience where I had the opportunity to learn from colleagues, share ideas, and make connections that will not only bolster our careers, but help us elevate primate conservation. Each day was filled with different presentations and workshops, and on the final day I had the opportunity to present my research on a stage in front of dozens of people I admire. As I walked up to the stage my hands were shaking, but once I started speaking, I settled into my place and knew that my hard work had earned me the position I was finally in. A few hours later I was on the dance floor at the final banquet with the same famous primatologists I cite every day. It felt like an out-of-body experience to say the least. 

While the conference was life-changing, what I really want to share in this piece is the two weeks following the conference, where I had the opportunity to join Dr. Travis Steffens and Dr. Keriann McGoogan, the founder and executive director, and board member (respectively) of the Canadian charity Planet Madagascar, on a trip to two field stations. As part of my PhD program at Concordia University, I am required to fulfill a 200-hour internship, which I had already organized with Planet Madagascar prior to finding out I was accepted to present at IPS. Planet Madagascar aims to “build sustainable forest communities by conserving Madagascar’s unique biodiversity while improving the lives of people living in Madagascar and empowering people in Madagascar and elsewhere to contribute to the preservation of Madagascar’s wildlife” (Planet Madagascar’s website, 2025). 

The first stop on our trip was at the new La Mananara field station for the organization Wildlife Madagascar, located on private land within the Anjozorobe-Angavo protected forest in central-eastern Madagascar. The site hosts a lush rainforest full of creatures to discover – even in their chilly dry season. We hiked up and down steep mountainsides, through mud and through rice fields to see wild indris (Indri indri), diadem sifakas (Propithecus diadema) and Goodman’s mouse lemurs (Microcebus lehilahytsara) as well as various species of (super cool) chameleons. We got to see Wildlife Madagascar’s new dining set be delivered in preparation for the many researchers, tourists and guests that will help sustain their project and protect the wildlife and forest that surrounds them.

After three nights camping at La Mananara, Travis, Keriann and I began our journey to Planet Madagascar’s field site in the dry forest of Ankarafantsika National Park, located in northwest Madagascar. After two days on pot-hole filled roads, we made it to the park where we could immediately see Coquerel’s sifakas (Propithecus coquerel) high in the trees above the parking lot – the abundance of lemurs in the park would prove to be awe-inspiring – aided substantially by the work being done at Planet Madagascar. Throughout the week I spent in Ankarafantsika, I had the absolute pleasure of seeing not just the sifakas, but Brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus), Sportive lemurs (Lepilemur), Mouse lemurs, various chameleons, crocodiles, and a swath of different, impressive birds. As an intern for Planet Madagascar, I already knew the incredible work they were doing for forest regeneration, fire management, community development and conservation education and communication before I arrived, but it was truly something special to witness the magic of their work in person.

We visited several nurseries run by Planet Madagascar’s Women’s Cooperative, an initiative that employs local women in sustainable agroforestry and forest restoration. The women in the cooperative plant and care for native tree seedlings until they are ready to be planted in key areas throughout the park by the Planet Madagascar team, as a method to restore destroyed and degraded forest that is essential to not only human but also lemur and wildlife livelihoods. Planet Madagascar also hires community members to create and sustain critical firebreaks throughout the park to manage the frequent wildfires that plague this dry ecosystem. I got to see the planting sites and firebreaks firsthand, helping me to truly understand the vastness of this project – which can actually be seen on satellite imagery. I also had the opportunity to visit the Andranohobaka school, which was built by Planet Madagascar and Seacology in 2022 in one of their three target communities, providing primary-school education to around 50 children who would have otherwise not attended school. 

While Zoboomafoo and Dreamworks’ Madagascar are still sweet childhood memories, they have nothing on the beautiful reality of the real country of Madagascar. Nothing in that media can replace the magic of connecting with Malagasy people who care so much about these ecosystems, witnessing lemurs vertically leap through the trees high above, or marveling at the gigantic baobab trees native to the country. Dreamworks also got something else wrong – as Dr. Steffens likes to say, “King Julien should have been Queen Juliet, because lemurs are generally female dominant”.

I am so thankful to the International Primatological Society, the Primatology and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Lab, the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, NSERC LEADS-CREATE, the Concordia University Faculty of Arts and Science, Wildlife Madagascar, Planet Madagascar, and of course Dr. Keriann McGoogan and Dr. Travis Steffens for the opportunity of a lifetime. I hope those of you reading this will get a chance to experience the true wilds of Madagascar one day too. If you want to connect with me or learn more about Planet Madagascar check out mikaelaswildlife.com and planetmadagascar.org.

About the author:

Mikaela Gerwing is a wildlife conservation biologist and current PhD candidate at Concordia University, working in the department of Geography, Planning and Environment under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Turner and Dr. Renata Ferreira in the Primatology and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (PIES) Lab. Her research focus is threefold: the rehabilitation and reintroduction of bearded capuchin monkeys in the Brazilian Caatinga, human-wildlife coexistence in the area of release, and the effectiveness and ethical integrity of wildlife rescue centres in the areas of animal welfare, human welfare and conservation.

Mikaela holds a BSc. in Natural Resources Conservation, Global Perspectives from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2019) and an MS in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University, New York (2022). She has worked and volunteered in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation in four continents with countless animals, and most notably, spent two years working as a conservation biologist and the volunteer coordinator for Taricaya Eco Reserve and Rescue Center in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. Mikaela is passionate about wildlife conservation and reintroduction, community development, and animal welfare, and dreams to one day open and operate a nonprofit wildlife rescue center.