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The land of freaky animals and awesome biodiversity , Madagascar was also one of the last places to be settled by world . And new research suggests that did n’t happen until about 1,200 eld ago .
The colonization might even have been an chance event , the researchers say . A small chemical group of Indonesian womanhood settled the island in one savage slide , possibly realize their way there after their trading vessel capsize .
An Indonesian village along a riverbank.
" The unusual affair about this island isMadagascaris a long way aside from Indonesia . … It was also settled very latterly ; by this time , most of the world had already been settled , " study research worker Murray Cox , of Massey University in New Zealand , tell LiveScience . " We are talking about an entire culture being trans - turn up across the Indian Ocean . " [ The World ’s Biggest Oceans and Seas ]
Mad about Madagascar
Previous genetic research exhibit that , amazingly , instead of coming from Africa , the masses living on the island off the east coast of Africa seem to have come from Indonesia , another island nation a quarter of the world , or some 3,500 miles ( about 5,600 km ) , aside .
" What we have n’t known is exactly how that happened . When did those people go far and how did they arrive ? " Cox say .
To find out , Cox and his confrere analyzed cistron from the mitochondrion of 300 native Madagascans and 3,000 Indonesians . Mitochondria are the cellular phone ’s energy mill , but they are special because their genes areinherited only from our mothers .
These gene show a clear similarity between the Indonesian and Madagascar genomes . To find out how long ago and how many Indonesian settlers there when the island ’s population was founded , the team run various calculator simulations that pop out out with different foundation populations at different time until the result rival their real - life data point . The researchers found that the island was most in all probability root by a little universe of about 30 charwoman , who arrived in Madagascar around 1,200 years ago . Ninety - three per centum ( 28 ) of these women were Indonesian , and the other 7 percentage ( two person ) were African .
Almost all aboriginal Madagascans are related to these 30 women , they base .
What about the men ?
premature research on Madagascans , specifically on theY sexual practice chromosome(passed from father to son ) , indicate that the Male of this founding population were also from Southeast Asia , though they do n’t know how many there were .
" You see there are Indonesian Y chromosomes in the population , " Cox said . " We sleep with that both Madagascan humans and charwoman come from Indonesia , we just do n’t know precisely how many men . Our grounds suggests it ’s also a little number . "
Archaeological evidence intimate that these few settlers quickly lay out down roots : " You have this rise and diffuse very rapidly to take over the island , " Cox said , " perhaps in the topic of a few generation . " [ veranda : Images of Uncontacted folk ]
Surprise shipwreck
So , how did they get there ? The researchers are n’t sure . The fact that there were only 30 fair sex , and in all probability no more than that of men , means it probably was n’t intentional , Cox said . He suggests that a transport vessel , which can deem up to 500 people , could have turtle , and its traveller could have end up on the shores of the African island .
" I would n’t say we were sure it was an accidental voyage , but the newfangled evidence suggests this is a good idea , " Cox say .
Major ocean currents also could have pushed wreck survivors toward the island . During World War II , wreckage from bombings in Japan floated all the fashion to Africa , landing on theshores of Madagascar .
" There was even a person in a lifeboat that made it across , " Cox say .
The study will be published tomorrow ( March 21 ) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences .
