Insects that ‘taste like bacon’ could help ease the starvation crisis engulfing Madagascar, a British charity believes. It is hoped that the unlikely snack – apparently enjoyable with a beer – could offer a nutritious food source for thousands if produced en masse. The African nation has faced years of devastating droughts which have left hundreds of thousands of Malagasy people facing starvation and turning to largely inedible plants for food.

The country is on the brink of experiencing the world's first "climate change famine", the UN says.

It is the only place where climate change has caused 'famine-like conditions', resulting in acute malnutrition among many of its inhabitants.

People eating termites and clay as UN says acute malnutrition has almost doubled this year in south

Around 1.14 million people face food security in the African island nation. The chief culprit is a climate outside of their control.

Researchers have found a minuscule chameleon in Northern Madagascar, which they believe to be the smallest reptile on the planet. Small body, big attitude—just look at that face. The chameleon is Brookesia nana, abbreviated to B. nana (if you squint, it does kind of look like a banana). Females of the species are larger than males, at about three-quarters of an inch from snout to vent. The new record holders are the adult males, which are less than an inch including the tail. Oh, and the males also have huge hemipenes (genitals) in proportion to their size.

In the rich volcanic soils of central Madagascar’s Itasy province grows a rare and fragrant coffee coveted by bats and humans alike. The twist: humans want it even more after the bats have nibbled on it.

Madagascar has embarked on its most ambitious tree-planting drive yet, aiming to plant 60 million trees in the coming months. The island nation celebrates 60 years of independence this year, and the start of the planting campaign on Jan. 19 marked one year since the inauguration of President Andry Rajoelina, who has promised to restore Madagascar's lost forests.

How did hunger for the humble pod lead to greed, crime and riches? Wendell Steavenson travels to Madagascar to meet the new spice barons

Two critically-endangered tortoises the size of golf balls have hatched at Chester Zoo. The infants, born to mum Smoothsides, 50, and dad Burt, who is 75, are the first of their kind to be bred at the zoo for seven years. The radiated tortoises are being cared for in a climate-controlled breeding facility. They will eventually grow up to half a metre long and could live to be 100.

Taken around Thanksgiving time, these girls were part of the dear family I lived with during my time in Madagascar. Although they didn’t seem to have a lot, they were always joyful and thankf…

A species of duck thought to have been wiped out a decade ago is re-released at a lake in Madagascar.

How vanilla became one of the world's most expensive - and dangerous - ingredients

Now, it's more valuable than silver.

In 2014, a toxic invasive species—the Asian common toad—was spotted in Madagascar’s largest seaport. Conservation biologists quickly sounded an urgent alarm, warning that the invader could devastate the African island’s unique biodiversity, which includes lemurs and hundreds of other animals found nowhere else in the world.

Large numbers of endangered whale sharks have been sighted in waters off Madagascar. The first major scientific survey in the area shows there are far more of the huge fish than previously thought. Eighty-five individuals were identified in a single season from photographs of their distinctive markings.

The Indian Ocean island has already seen 500 plague cases and 54 deaths — and it’s early in the season.

Elisah Raharimalala and her daughter wear face masks as they make their way around the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, a city of more than a million people. They're wearing the mouth and nose coverings to protect themselves not from air pollution or the common cold but from the plague, a disease that in the West is more commonly associated with the Middle Ages.

It is a unique evolutionary hotspot home to thousands of plants found nowhere else on Earth. However, Madagascar’s special trees, palms and orchids – which provide habitats and food for dozens of species of rare lemur and other animals – are now facing catastrophic destruction caused by land clearances, climate change and spreading agriculture, scientists will warn this week. Thousands of plant species could be lost to humanity in the near future according to a report...

A disastrous landfall in Madagascar is expected Tuesday.