Aye aye, the almost extinct animal

The Aye-aye is an odd but amazing creature, once classified as a rodent. This amazing primate is on the verge of Extinction, with only an estimated FIFTY still living in the wild. I believe that there are three reasons for their endangerment is 1, deforestation 2, farmers in Madagascar (along time ago) killed them because they looked like an omen of evil creatures 3, and they can only have a child every two to three years.

The Aye Aye

The scientific classification of the Aye-aye is as follows. The Aye-aye is in the Kingdom of Animalia, the Phylum of Chordate, and the Class of Mammalia, The Order Primates the only member in its family Daubentoniidea, the genus of Daubentonia, and the species of Madagascariensis. This makes its scientific name Daubentonia madagascariensis, now try saying that ten times fast
The nocturnal Aye-aye spends about 80% of every night moving and searching for food. Their diet primarily consists of beetle larva but they will also eat; some insects, coconut, sugar cane (witch they steal from farmers gardens this sometimes gets them shot), bananas, dates, eggs, mangoes, and will accept cooked rice when offered.

The Aye-aye uses it’s odd “bat like” ears to listen for insect larva moving and burrowing underneath the bark of tree. When the Aye-aye hears the larva moving it uses it’s teeth to chizzes of the bark then use it’s extra long middle finger to reach into the burrow hole and then spear the larva on its finger nail. The Aye-aye then transfers the larva from its fingernail to its mouth. None of the sources I found did not mentioned any natural predators, so I guess they are pretty high on the food chain. The Aye-aye also uses its finger in drinking; it uses it like a dog’s tong lapping up water. The elongated middle finger can be considered as an all Purpose tool. I don’t think the Aye-aye would be able to survive if its middle finger wasn’t as long as it is, because it uses it for hunting. Another tool The Aye-aye definitely needs are it’s teeth it needs them to chew and to bite the bark of during it nightly forage. If the Aye-aye had any enemies the teeth could probably be used for defensive purposes also.

The Aye-aye almost never spends any time with another Aye-aye or any animal for that matter. The only time they spend with another Aye-aye is when it is either mating or nursing a young during this time the female is dominate over male it only but it only lasts seven months.
The Aye-aye is a VERY solitary animal this leads me to believe that it doesn’t protect its territory but won’t leave a certain area. This area for males is about one hundred to one hundred ten square ha, but for females the area is much less at only about thirty-five to forty square ha.

During that day Aye-ayes sleep in nest that is about ten to fifteen meters off the ground. It is made of twigs and leaves, and takes about 24 hours to build. A new nest is build every five threw seven days. The nest is built in a fork of a large tree. “Lazy” Aye-ayes will sometimes use nests built by others if they are still in good condition. The Aye-aye primarily clings to branches and tree trunks with its claws to get around to find food. It will also make lengthy trips across the ground in search of a nice place for a nest.

As the most bizarre looking of all primates the Aye-aye has long and nimble fingers used for climbing, and the elongated middle finger is used for spearing larva and shoving it into its mouth. They have huge bat Like ears witch they us when listening for larva, a flat face, a huge raccone like busshy tail. Their fur coat is black and it is coarse and straight. Aye-aye’s have big teeth called incisors in the front of their mouth, but have no canines like humans have.

Some intresting information on my topic (Aye-aye) is that it is the only animal in its family just like humans, the only difference is that our closest relatives went extint and the Aye-aye never had any closest relatives. Also like humans Aye-ayes can have babies at any time of the year. Aye-ayes can only be found in madagascar so that is were there spicies name came from (madagascariensis) Some other intresting stuff is that they were thought to be rodants and are still mistaked for them. They also at one time were placed as the only animal in their order. The Aye-aye (to my knowlage) doesn’t have any programes to save it, but I wish there were because aye-ayes are very intresting animals.

List of works used 

Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/aye.html

Aye-aye Grolier encyclopedia of knowledge Grolier incorporated Danbury,  Connecticut

Aye-ayes area random fun http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~jwgF92/AyeAye.html 

Daubentonia madagascariensis Aye Aye http://www.sunysb.edu/doit/icte/mammals/daubenronia-madagascariensis