Madagascar is an island country lying off the southeastern coast of Africa. Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic, around 180 million years ago, and split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. To the west of the central highlands of Madagascar, the increasingly arid terrain gradually slopes down to the Mozambique Channel and mangrove swamps along the coast. The western and southern sides, which lie in the rain shadow of the central highlands, are home to dry deciduous forests, spiny forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands. Due to their lower population densities, Madagascar's dry deciduous forests have been better preserved than the eastern rain forests or the original woodlands of the central plateau.