Aye-aye

species of mammal
(Redirected from 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)

Aye-aye
An aye-aye eating banana flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Class:
Order:
Suborder:
Infraorder:
Family:
Daubentoniidae

Gray, 1863
Genus:
Daubentonia

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.[1]

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

References change

  1. Erickson C.J. et al 1998. Percussive foraging: stimuli for prey location by aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis). International Journal of Primatology 19 (1): 111. [1]