More than 8 out of every 10 plant species on Madagascar are unique to the island, whose striking diversity includes six kinds of baobab trees, while all of Africa has one type. Scientists believe one of the extinct giant lemurs may have originally eaten baobab fruit and dispersed the seeds, and today many baobab populations are threatened by human activity. In southern Madagascar's spiny forest, ring-tailed lemurs move among thorny branches. After a field study found that lemurs in the isolated Betampona Reserve were living on the edge of extinction, the Madagascar Fauna Group restocked the reserve with black and white ruffed lemurs born in American zoos. The project's success led to better protection for the forest and its many creatures, provided valuable research with benefits for reintroduction efforts for other species around the world, and reached a main goal when introduced lemurs produced offspring with wild lemurs in Madagascar's Reserve Naturelle Integrate de Betampona.