Madagascar

island · unique animals · Indian Ocean · Africa

Fourth largest island. Madagascar is so big that it's the fourth-largest island in the whole world, sitting in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. Only Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo are bigger.

Animals live nowhere else. Madagascar is famous for having amazing animals that don't exist anywhere else on the planet, like lemurs with their long striped tails and weird aye-ayes with enormous ears. Scientists love studying it because it's like nature's own laboratory.

Broke away long ago. Millions of years ago, Madagascar was connected to Africa, but it drifted apart and became its own island. Because it was separated for so long, animals there evolved into completely different species than those on Africa.

Capital city hub. Antananarivo is Madagascar's biggest city and the center of government, culture, and business on the island.

Part of a group. Madagascar isn't just one island, the country also includes many smaller islands around it in the Indian Ocean.