Mauritius: Invaders in Paradise

Before and After: Path northward from Gri gri Beach, Souillac, left, and, right, a sugar cane field near Trois Boutiques, south of Mahebourg. Actually, the view on the right is one I saw several places in this island. This crop is sadly ubiquitous throughout the country. The one on the left required a bit of hiking to get to. And if you look carefully, even in this picture on the left, biodiverse degradation is also visible, starting with the “pine” trees, Beach Sheoak, Casuarina equisetifolia.

It is hard now to imagine what this island was like centuries before. It must have been really beautiful at one time. Mark Twain wrote,

“What there is of Mauritius is beautiful. You have undulating wide expanses of sugar-cane—a fine, fresh green and very pleasant to the eye; and everywhere else you have a ragged luxuriance of tropic vegetation of vivid greens of varying shades, a wild tangle of underbrush, with graceful tall palms lifting their crippled plumes high above it; and you have stretches of shady dense forest with limpid streams frolicking through them…” – Following the Equator, 1896

In more recent times new invaders have made this island noticeably less beautiful and, more to the point, less biodiverse. Some of these invaders are themselves beautiful to look at, but what they are doing to the island is not.

Main Avian Invaders: The Feathery Five:
When we see a bird here in Mauritius there is a 95% chance it will be one of these five. What do these birds have in common? They are all invasive, having pushed out, or in the process of pushing out other species. Biodiversity on this island has taken a major hit. Here are those bad boys. Clockwise from top left:

Common Myna, Acridotheres tristis. Aside from pushing out other birds these birds act like little “Johnny Appleseeds”, introducing other trees and plants that have no business being here. The Mynah, for instance, loves the fruit of the Strangler Fig (Banyan) and, well, “plants” the seeds wherever it flies.

Red-whiskered Bulbul, Pycnonotus jocosus

Zebra Dove, Geopelia striata. These first three birds all came from various regions of Asia.

Village Weaver, Ploceus cucullatus, from Africa mainland

Red fody, Foudia madagascariensis, from – you guessed it – Madagascar.

Other invasive species, not birds, have also given the island an ecological drubbing. Here are four for dishonorable mention:

Small Indian Mongoose, Urva auropunctata, brought over from India to bring the rat population down. The rats had swelled in number when the island was given over to Sugar Cane cultivation. Well, the Mongoose did a middling job on those rodents – and also on native birds. Oops.

Guttural Toad, Sclerophrys gutturalis

Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Phelsuma grandis, from nearby Madagascar, very aggressive toward native reptiles. But, like a lot of these invaders, very photogenic. So … there is that.

This Asian House Shrew, Suncus murinus, wouldn’t stay long enough for a decent photo. He’s on a quest for insects and animals, some larger than him. He is the cause of the 2011 extinction of the Orange-tailed Skink, Austroablepharus naranjicauda on Flat Island, located off the north coast of Mauritius. The skinks, endemic to that little island, were no match for the shrew, which inadvertently came over with a lumber shipment. The skinks, in only fifteen months, went from thousands to zero. Fortunately zoologists were able to rescue some and relocate them to two nearby uninhabited – and unshrewed! – islands. Fingers crossed.

Sunny Southeast Corner of Africa: Mauritius

The title of this article is a courtesy to many readers, myself included, who may not have known just where Mauritius is. Others might have confused it with similar-sounding Mauritania, which is on the opposite corner of Africa. But looking at a map you can see this island is on the sunrise side of Madagascar.

It is technically part of Africa, but it feels more like India, or maybe Madagascar. When we came here two weeks ago we had very little knowledge of this island country. It has been full of surprises. This first post is more of a general write-up. In the following article I hope to write about the environment here.

The first bird I see when I got off the plane was the Dodo – on the disembarkation card. And on the money we changed our dollars into. Dodos are pictured everywhere here: posters, team mascots. And in grocery stores you can see it on food labels and beer bottles. The center photo is from the History museum here in Mahebourg. The closest you can get to the real dodo are these bone fragments on display.

This statues of a sitting Swami is often mistaken for a Buddha. He is sitting. He is corpulent. He looks serene. But he is not Buddha. This is in the port area of Mahebourg, the first city we are staying in here in Mauritius.

Also near the dock area are the buildings associated with the railroad that used to come in. I’m not sure where exactly the train station is. Somewhere near here. The signage is confusing. Note the strangler fig tree in the process of strangling the building that may, or may not, be part of the train station.

Mahebourg downtown area. Not exactly a pretty town. But there are some corners that still have historical significance.

Blue Bay, just down the coast, and a short bus ride, from Mahebourg. This is a great place for swimming and snorkeling. Very close to the airport. Every half hour or less we see planes taking off.

Curepipe, Mauritius. This is the market building. Truly odd mostly cement architecture. In fact the whole downtown looks rather grimy, as if it is overdue for a high-pressure scrubbing.

These pyramids are just outside the town of Plaine Magnien, close to the airport.

“Land of contrasts” is a cliche of travelogues but, when it comes to religions, this truly is the case here. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and other religions demonstrate mutual toleration.

What can we do with these “pineapplettes”? Hmm.

I was saddened to see just how much of the country is given over to agriculture, especially sugar cane. Although that commodity is no longer the cash crop it used to be the fields have already been plowed up. Countless square miles of forest, lagoons, rivers, and savanna have been irrevocably destroyed. Parrots, owls, and several other animals have joined the dodo in ecological oblivion. There are still a small number of animal and bird species that only have a mountainous section, Black River Gorges National Park, near the center of the island as a refuge.

Next: Nature in Mauritius