This post was updated on October 2, 2019.

Lemurs are making themselves at home in Madagascar’s cacao and vanilla plantations, a new study finds.

New research funded by Conservation International (CI) indicates that carefully planned and well-managed shade-grown cacao and vanilla farms could serve as viable habitats for lemurs and other wildlife — a glimmer of hope for a country where 70 percent of the population lives in poverty, 90 percent of original vegetation has been lost and one iconic lemur species’ population has plummeted 95 percent since 2000.

A team from the Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) and the University of the West of England along with Malagasy colleagues found five species — three endangered — moving, resting and grooming among the branches of cacao and their shade trees on 61 farms in the Ambanja region of northwest Madagascar.…