The Aye-Aye: A Weird Rodent like Creature

The Aye-aye is indeed a strange looking animal. It is rodent like in appearance, and found in the African country of Madagascar. It has very large teeth which grow throughout the life of the creature. There is one very long finger coming from it's paws which can be three times as long as its other fingers. It has a bushy tail when in adult form, and the fur is dark brown with hairs at the neck of the animal, and its face is white. Its eyes are very bright, almost a glow in the dark shade of yellowish - green. They also have large ears. It is 30-40 inches in length from the nose to the tail. They weigh about 2.5 kilograms, the female weighs slightly less. It is similar in appearance to the Madagascar Lemur.

This creature lives mainly in the rainforest regions on the East coast of the island of Madagascar, but can also be found in deciduous areas. The Aye-aye finds it's food by tapping on trees, when food is found it gnaws it's way through the wood. The long middle finger helps in retrieving food through the holes made in the trees. The food source from trees are mainly grubs. They also eat fungi, fruit, seeds and nectar. Mostly the Aye-aye searches for food alone, but has been known to forage in pairs, or groups. It also lives in the canopies of the rainforest's in nests.

These are the largest nocturnal primates in the world. In captivity they can live up to 23 years of age. Aye-ayes hang upside while procreating. They give birth to one Aye-aye after a gestation period of 172 days. After giving birth the Aye-aye will not have another birth for 2-3 years.

The Aye-aye is an endangered species there is only thought to be around 1000 - 2000 left although the exact number is not known. However, the laws of killing these animals are very difficult to impose. The trees of the rainforest's are often cut down for human purposes leaving the animal with little food ,or shelter. The Madagascan people believe that it is a magical creature, and can cause death to humans. They are classed as vermin and a bad omen to the people of the island. Therefore, they are killed for this reason. Also when the trees are cut down they venture to farm land areas searching for food, and they are often killed in the process.