Kalina1966
IMG_9489 Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
The aye-aye is one of Madagascar's most endangered animal species.
Long persecuted in its native Madagascar as an omen of death and evil, the aye-aye, like most of its lemur relatives, faces imminent extinction because of the added pressure of deforestation.
The aye-aye prefers dense, tropical and coastal rainforest where there is plenty of cover but they are also known to inhabit secondary forest, bamboo thickets, mangroves and even coconut groves along the eastern coast of Madagascar.
This elusive species is the largest nocturnal primate and is the island’s answer to the woodpecker, as its specially adapted, flexible and skeletal third finger is used to find nutritious grubs and winkle them out from their woody burrows, in much the same way as a woodpecker’s beak.
The aye-aye is a primate that is most closely related to Lemurs but is one of the most unique animals on the planet due the fact that it possesses a number of very distinct adaptations. Their body and long tail are covered in coarse, shaggy black or dark brown fur with a layer of white guard hairs that helps them to blend into the surrounding forest in the dark. The aye-aye has very large eyes on its pointed face, a pink nose and rodent-like teeth with incisors that grow continuously to ensure that they never become blunt. Their large rounded ears are incredibly sensitive giving the aye-aye excellent hearing when listening for grubs beneath the tree bark and are able to be rotated independently. The aye-aye has long and bony fingers with sharp pointed claws on the ends to help when dangling from branches, but it is the middle fingers on their front feet which are their most distinctive feature. Much longer than the others, these fingers are opposable with a double-jointed tip and a hooked claw on the end and are used for both detecting grubs in dead wood and then extracting them.
The aye-aye is a nocturnal and arboreal animal meaning that it spends most of its life high in the trees. Although they are known to come down to the ground on occasion, aye-ayes sleep, eat, travel and mate in the trees and are most commonly found close to the canopy where there is plenty of cover from the dense foliage. During the day aye- ayes sleep in spherical nests in the forks of tree branches that are constructed out of leaves, branches and vines before emerging after dark to begin their hunt for food. The aye-aye is a solitary animal that marks its large home range with scent with the smaller territory of a female often overlapping those of at least a couple of males. Male aye-ayes tend to share their territories with other males and are even known to share the same nests (although not at the same time), and can seemingly tolerate each other until they hear the call of a female that is looking for a mate.
After a gestation period that lasts for about five months, a single infant is born and spends its first two months in the safety of the nest, not being weaned until it is at least 7 months old. Young aye-ayes will remain with their mother until they are two years old and leave to establish a territory of their own. A female aye-aye is thought to be able to start reproducing when she is between 3 and 3.5 years old where males seems to be able to do so at least 6 months earlier.
The aye-aye is an omnivorous animal that feeds on both other animals and plant matter, moving about high up in the trees and under the cover of night. Males are known to cover distances of up to 4km a night in their search for food, feeding on a variety of fruits, seeds, insects and nectar. They are however specially adapted to hunt in a very unique way as they use their elongated middle finger to tap dead wood in search of the hollow tunnels created by wood-boring grubs, listening for even the slightest sound with their sensitive bat-like ears. Once the aye-aye has detected its prey it uses its sharp front teeth to gnaw a hole into the wood before inserting the long middle finger, hooking the grub with its claw and extracting it (filling the same ecological niche as a Woodpecker). The aye-aye is also known to use this long digit to eat eggs and coconut flesh and is thought to be the only primate to use echolocation when searching for food.
IMG_9489 Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
The aye-aye is one of Madagascar's most endangered animal species.
Long persecuted in its native Madagascar as an omen of death and evil, the aye-aye, like most of its lemur relatives, faces imminent extinction because of the added pressure of deforestation.
The aye-aye prefers dense, tropical and coastal rainforest where there is plenty of cover but they are also known to inhabit secondary forest, bamboo thickets, mangroves and even coconut groves along the eastern coast of Madagascar.
This elusive species is the largest nocturnal primate and is the island’s answer to the woodpecker, as its specially adapted, flexible and skeletal third finger is used to find nutritious grubs and winkle them out from their woody burrows, in much the same way as a woodpecker’s beak.
The aye-aye is a primate that is most closely related to Lemurs but is one of the most unique animals on the planet due the fact that it possesses a number of very distinct adaptations. Their body and long tail are covered in coarse, shaggy black or dark brown fur with a layer of white guard hairs that helps them to blend into the surrounding forest in the dark. The aye-aye has very large eyes on its pointed face, a pink nose and rodent-like teeth with incisors that grow continuously to ensure that they never become blunt. Their large rounded ears are incredibly sensitive giving the aye-aye excellent hearing when listening for grubs beneath the tree bark and are able to be rotated independently. The aye-aye has long and bony fingers with sharp pointed claws on the ends to help when dangling from branches, but it is the middle fingers on their front feet which are their most distinctive feature. Much longer than the others, these fingers are opposable with a double-jointed tip and a hooked claw on the end and are used for both detecting grubs in dead wood and then extracting them.
The aye-aye is a nocturnal and arboreal animal meaning that it spends most of its life high in the trees. Although they are known to come down to the ground on occasion, aye-ayes sleep, eat, travel and mate in the trees and are most commonly found close to the canopy where there is plenty of cover from the dense foliage. During the day aye- ayes sleep in spherical nests in the forks of tree branches that are constructed out of leaves, branches and vines before emerging after dark to begin their hunt for food. The aye-aye is a solitary animal that marks its large home range with scent with the smaller territory of a female often overlapping those of at least a couple of males. Male aye-ayes tend to share their territories with other males and are even known to share the same nests (although not at the same time), and can seemingly tolerate each other until they hear the call of a female that is looking for a mate.
After a gestation period that lasts for about five months, a single infant is born and spends its first two months in the safety of the nest, not being weaned until it is at least 7 months old. Young aye-ayes will remain with their mother until they are two years old and leave to establish a territory of their own. A female aye-aye is thought to be able to start reproducing when she is between 3 and 3.5 years old where males seems to be able to do so at least 6 months earlier.
The aye-aye is an omnivorous animal that feeds on both other animals and plant matter, moving about high up in the trees and under the cover of night. Males are known to cover distances of up to 4km a night in their search for food, feeding on a variety of fruits, seeds, insects and nectar. They are however specially adapted to hunt in a very unique way as they use their elongated middle finger to tap dead wood in search of the hollow tunnels created by wood-boring grubs, listening for even the slightest sound with their sensitive bat-like ears. Once the aye-aye has detected its prey it uses its sharp front teeth to gnaw a hole into the wood before inserting the long middle finger, hooking the grub with its claw and extracting it (filling the same ecological niche as a Woodpecker). The aye-aye is also known to use this long digit to eat eggs and coconut flesh and is thought to be the only primate to use echolocation when searching for food.