Aye-aye

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur which lives in rain forests of Madagascar, a large island off the southeast coast of Africa.(madagascar). Also, the aye-aye is a small animal.

Aye-aye
An aye-aye eating banana flowers
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Strepsirrhini
Infraorder:	Lemuriformes
Family:	Daubentoniidae Gray, 1863
Genus:	Daubentonia É. Geoffroy, 1795
Binomial name
Daubentonia madagascariensis

This solitary animal is nocturnal (most active at night). The aye-aye spends most of its time in trees. During the day, it sleeps in a nest in the fork of a tree. It builds the nest out of leaves and twigs.

The aye-aye has rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to get at the insect grubs under tree bark. It fills the same ecological niche as woodpeckers do elsewhere. It taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood using its forward slanting incisors. Then it sticks in its middle finger to pull the grubs out.

Lemurs are primates, and so are related to monkeys, apes, and me

Aye-aye Media

• 

  Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) on display at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockhom.

• 

  Closeup of the hand showing the elongated digits and the thinner third digit

• 

  3d scan of the skull of Daubentonia madagascariensis

• 

  3d scan of the left hand of Daubentonia madagascariensis

• 

  An aye-aye foraging, c. 1863, Joseph Wolf

• 

  Gnawed limb by an aye-aye to prey on larvae

• 

  Aye-Aye photographed at night in the wild in Madagascar

• 

  Aye-ayes are commonly thought to be bad omens by some of the Malagasy people, although other legends consider them a good omen. When spotted, they are killed on sight and hung up so that the evil spirit will be carried away by travelers.