Mai is a scientist working to protect endangered animals in tropical rainforests. She uses blood-sucking leeches to track endangered animals in Madagascar, where she spends hours hiking and collecting hundreds of leeches. Once the leeches are collected, She can analyze the DNA in their guts to learn which animals they’ve fed on, which tells her which animals live in those forests.
In her current expedition, she is collecting leeches from a small, mysterious forest in Madagascar which scientists recently discovered contains animals from all throughout the island. This is unusual because Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world and each region is home to very different, unique wildlife. In this mysterious “Lost Forest” as it’s been called, villagers and scientists have discovered animals which we don’t expect to find in south-central Madagascar.
