Mo Ganji: Silky Sifaka | Seiden-Sifaka | Propithecus candidus | No. 201/250 from work group 8/99

Silky Sifaka | Seiden-Sifaka | Propithecus candidus

Mo Ganji shifts his focus toward the silky sifaka — a large, arboreal lemur inhabiting the humid montane rainforests of northeastern Madagascar — by letting the single line move toward essence rather than movement or appearance. The line gathers the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside agility, contrast and expressiveness so that a quieter core can emerge. In Ganji’s understanding, the line does not belong exclusively to the sifaka; it remains open, acknowledging that every form is also a conceptual designation rather than a fixed truth.

Propithecus candidus is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Endemic to a very restricted region of Madagascar, the silky sifaka is considered one of the world’s rarest primates. Population estimates suggest only a few hundred individuals remain, confined to fragmented forest patches within a narrow elevational range.

The principal threats include habitat destruction from slash-and-burn agriculture, illegal logging, hunting, and the isolation of remaining populations. Because silky sifakas depend on continuous forest canopy for movement and foraging, fragmentation severely limits social structure and reproduction. Even protected areas face pressure from encroachment and resource extraction.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the sifaka can be encountered beyond elegance or rarity. It allows attention to rest on a life shaped by elevation and continuity, suggesting how beings adapted to vertical forest worlds become precarious once those layered habitats are reduced to disconnected fragments.