Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, with a landmass of 226,739 square miles - over twice the size of the British Isles. Until 65 million years ago, it was part of continental Africa, but broke free and drifted into the Indian Ocean, gradually isolating its flora and fauna. This illustrated study of the extraordinary wildlife of the island covers the lone evolution of many of the species of plant and animal where all of the mammals, 225 of the 257 species of reptile and almost 80% of its plants are unique to Madagascar.