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This post was updated on October 2, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n Lemurs are making themselves at home in Madagascar\u2019s cacao and vanilla plantations, a new study finds.<\/p>\n New research<\/a> funded by Conservation International (CI) indicates that carefully planned and well-managed shade-grown cacao and vanilla farms could serve as viable habitats for lemurs and other wildlife \u2014 a glimmer of hope for a country where 70 percent of the population lives in poverty, 90 percent<\/a> of original vegetation has been lost and one iconic lemur species\u2019 population has plummeted 95 percent since 2000.<\/p>\n A team from the Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) and the University of the West of England along with Malagasy colleagues found five species \u2014 three endangered \u2014 moving, resting and grooming among the branches of cacao and their shade trees on 61 farms in the Ambanja region of northwest Madagascar. BZS and Malagasy researchers also made the first documented observations of lemurs living in vanilla plantations and found five species on farms grown close to areas of natural forest and amid natural vegetation.<\/p>\n