Aye-aye

Quick Take

• One specific finger on the aye-aye's hand is the reason locals will kill it on sight, and the superstition behind it is stranger than you'd expect. Superstition-driven killings →
• Scientists once declared the aye-aye completely extinct, but something changed their minds decades later. Extinction and rediscovery →
• The aye-aye hunts exactly like a woodpecker, though it has no beak, no wings, and relies on a trick no other primate is known to use. Woodpecker-like foraging →
• The aye-aye's name may exist precisely because people were too afraid to say what it really was. Origins of the name →

The main reason why aye-aye population numbers have been critically low for years is that local people think that they are just too weird, and many believe that seeing one is very bad luck indeed. One story says that if an aye-aye points its long middle finger at you, you will die, and another stresses that seeing one will lead to the death of a villager. The only way of stopping this in both cases is to kill the aye-aye as quickly as possible, which has led to the extinction of populations in certain areas.

Today, though, the aye-aye is also faced with the increasing size of towns and villages that encroach on its native habitats, with some individuals forced to invade crops to get food, which often leads to them being shot. They are also severely threatened by deforestation for the logging industry and to clear land for the creation of agricultural plantations.

Classification and Evolution

The aye-aye is a species of Lemur that is found inhabiting the rainforests of Madagascar. The aye-aye is not only the largest nocturnal primate in the world but is also one of the most unique.

It is, in fact, so strange in appearance that it was thought to be a large species of squirrel when it was first discovered. The incisors of the aye-aye are ever-growing, much like a rodent. This animal evolved these strong teeth, as well as its skull and jaw, to maximize bite force in order to penetrate tree bark and gain access to insects. Even the rodent-like shape of its head helps improve that bite power.

In the mid-1800s, the aye-aye was finally recognized as being a species of Lemur but was classified in a group of its own, as its closest Lemur relatives remain a mystery even today. However, these incredibly unique animals are severely threatened throughout much of their natural habitat and were thought to be on the brink of extinction by 1980, primarily due to them being killed on sight by local people who believe that seeing an aye-aye is very bad luck. Although today’s population numbers seem to have risen, the aye-aye is one of Madagascar’s most endangered animal species.

The scientific name of the aye-aye is Daubentonia madagascariensis, and they are classified in the family Daubentoniidae.

Anatomy and Appearance

The aye-aye is a primate that is most closely related to Lemurs but is one of the most unique animals on the planet because it possesses several very distinct adaptations. Its body and long tail are covered in coarse, shaggy black or dark brown fur with a layer of white guard hairs that help it 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.

Its 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 its front hands that are its most distinctive feature. Much longer than the others, these fingers have 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.

Distribution and Habitat

Historically, the aye-aye inhabited the coastal forests of eastern and north-western Madagascar, but by 1983 it was thought to be almost extinct, with only a few scattered individuals known to still be found there. Since then, their population numbers have increased, and although these populations aren’t very large, they are found in an increasing number of locations and in a variety of different forest habitats.

The aye-aye prefers dense, tropical, and coastal rainforests where there is plenty of cover, but they are also known to inhabit secondary forests, bamboo thickets, mangroves, and even coconut groves along the eastern coast of Madagascar. However, along with the persecution of the aye-aye by local people, they are severely threatened in their natural environment by habitat loss.

Behavior and Lifestyle

Like many other primates and lemurs, the unique aye-aye spends as much time as possible dwelling high in the tree canopy. Furthermore, the aye-aye restricts its activity to nighttime, avoiding daytime dangers. As arboreal animals, they conduct all their activities while navigating the treetops. The tree coverage helps camouflage aye-ayes from predators.

In order to sleep, rest, and raise their young, aye-ayes build circular nests in trees. These nests are created with a combination of vines, leaves, bark, and tree branches.

Aye-ayes were originally thought to be solitary animals, but recent research shows that they do sometimes act in groups. They do have large territories that can overlap with other aye-ayes. Males are even known to use others’ nests when they are unoccupied.

Reproduction and Life Cycles

It was previously thought that the aye-aye had a very strict breeding season (like other Lemurs), but they actually seem to breed throughout the year, depending on when the female comes into season. When a female is ready to mate, she calls to male aye-ayes who are known to gather around her and will fight aggressively with one another for breeding rights. 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 at least 7 months of age.

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 4 years old, while males appear able to do so at least 6 months earlier.

Diet and Prey

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 2.5 miles (4 km) 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.

Predators and Threats

The secretive and tree-dwelling lifestyle of the aye-aye means that it actually has very few natural predators in its native environment, with the agile and equally nocturnal Fossa being their most ferocious natural predator (along with Birds of Prey and Snakes that hunt the smaller and more vulnerable young).

Humans are in fact the biggest threat to the aye-aye, as populations have been wiped out across much of their native forests due to superstition among local people who believe that seeing one is a bad omen. In other areas where they are not feared in this way, the aye-aye is hunted as bushmeat. The biggest threat to current populations, however, is habitat loss caused by both deforestation and growing human settlements that encroach on the aye-aye’s natural habitat.

Aye-aye Interesting Facts and Features

Although the aye-aye is a solitary animal, males have very loose territories that can overlap those of a number of others. They build their nests high in the trees and will rarely sleep in the same one two nights in a row. This means that one territory for an aye-aye can contain numerous nests, with up to six thought to be found in just one tree.

The aye-aye is thought to be one of the creepiest animals in the world, with its name possibly originating from the cry of alarm made when a person spotted one. This may be an outdated line of thinking, however. Another suggestion is that the name aye-aye derives from the Malagasy language in such a way as to say that “one doesn’t know”. This would make logical sense if there were a great deal of superstition surrounding the aye-aye, as locals did not even want to mention the name for fear of a curse or bad luck.

Despite now being found in more areas of its once vast range, aye-aye population numbers were once so low that they were actually thought to be extinct in 1933, until they were rediscovered in 1957.

Conservation Status and Life Today

Today, the aye-aye is listed by the IUCN as an animal that is endangered, meaning that it is severely threatened with possible extinction in the near future. Numbers have increased somewhat since the 1980s, and small populations have been sighted in more areas of their natural range; however, they remain greatly threatened by surrounding human activity. Several captive populations can be found around the world in breeding programs to try and save the aye-aye from complete extinction. A small population can also be found on the island of Nosy Mangabe, which is a protected reserve just off Madagascar’s northeast coast.