📘 Q.4 IAS Prelims 2024 — Environment & Ecology (Animal Geography | Natural Habitat)🧷 Authentic Classroom Explanation by IAS Monk


📌 The Question:
Consider the following pairs :

CountryAnimal found in its natural habitat
1. BrazilIndri
2. IndonesiaElk
3. MadagascarBonobo

How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All three
(d) None


Correct Answer: (d) None


🔍 Classroom Explanation (Pair-wise Check):

  • Pair 1: Brazil — Indri ❌
    The Indri (Babakoto) is one of the largest living lemurs and is endemic to Madagascar, not Brazil.
    It inhabits Madagascar’s rainforests and is threatened due to deforestation.
  • Pair 2: Indonesia — Elk ❌
    Elk (Wapiti) are native to North America and parts of Central & East Asia, not Indonesia.
    Indonesia’s fauna is dominated by tropical species, not large temperate deer like elk.
  • Pair 3: Madagascar — Bonobo ❌
    Bonobos (Pygmy chimpanzees) are found only in the Congo Basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Central Africa).
    Madagascar has no native great apes.

✔️ Hence, none of the pairs are correctly matched.


🧠 Curiosity Raiser:
Why does Madagascar have lemurs but no monkeys or apes?
👉 Because it split from Africa before monkeys evolved, making its fauna a living museum of evolution.


📚 Enrich Notes (Prelims Gold):

  • Madagascar → Lemurs (Indri, Sifaka), no monkeys
  • Congo Basin → Bonobo, Chimpanzee
  • Indonesia → Orangutans, Komodo dragon
  • Elk → Temperate regions, not tropical rainforests

🕊️ IAS Monk Whisper:
“In ecology, geography is destiny — animals never forget the land that shaped them.”

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