How do aye ayes eat

Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches. Aye-ayes spend their lives in rain forest trees and avoid coming down to earth. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees.

While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal's insect diet.

Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have put aye-aye populations at-risk. Today they are protected by law. All rights reserved. Common Name: Aye-ayes. Scientific Name: Daubentonia madagascariensis. Type: Mammals. Diet: Omnivore. Size: Head and body: 14 to 17 inches; tail: 22 to 24 inches.

The main threats to the survival of the aye-aye are loss of habitat and hunting pressure. Unlike many lemur species that are hunted for food, aye-ayes are sometimes killed as crop-threatening pests in agricultural areas, and because their bizarre appearance has traditionally led many villagers to regard the animal as an evil omen, or fady , which must be killed on sight to avoid bringing bad luck onto an entire village.

Aye-ayes are found in at least 16 protected areas, and several of these locations appear to have healthy populations of this lemur. Worldwide, the population of aye-ayes in human care stands at about An aye-aye pedigree chart can be viewed HERE. Watch two aye-ayes, Ardrey and her daughter Elphaba, using the same process to eat eggs as they would to locate and eat insect larvae that dwell inside trees.

First, they tap, then they chew, and finally, they use their long flexible middle fingers to dip into and remove the yolks of the eggs. See footage of adorable baby Agatha at her routine one-month weigh-in. Watch Angelique add fresh bamboo to her nest box, selecting the perfect branches from her outdoor enclosure to add to the structure she is building inside.

Adopt an aye-aye: Want to learn more about aye-ayes AND help support their care, not only here but in Madagascar? To adopt Agatha now, please visit the Adopt a Lemur homepage or click on the Adopt an Aye-Aye tab at the top of this menu! Send an aye-aye a present: You can send special treats like coconuts to the DLC's aye-ayes, as well as raw materials like fleece and cardboard for us to construct special enrichment activities to keep them happy and healthy.

Simply visit our amazon wishlist! Aye-ayes in particular love coconuts and coconut milk, nut butters, tamarinds, sugar cane, and any of the fun treats labelled "aye-aye enrichment item.

Thank you so much, Hailey, for helping the DLC save lemurs! Your love for aye-ayes and your desire to teach people about them is inspiring, and it means so much to us. Elphaba investigates a log, which has just been placed in her enclosure, by tapping on its surface. With their keen sense of hearing, aye-ayes can tell when they are tapping over a hollow spot which might indicate the presence of an insect tunnel below.

Yes No Thanks. Search Our Site. Adopt an Aye-aye. Quick Facts. If they hear movement, they use their rodent-like incisors to gnaw into the bark exposing the larvae and then insert their elongated middle finger to extract the larvae. They are the only primates thought to use echolocation to find prey. Aye-ayes were originally classified as rodents because of their continuously growing incisor teeth. They use their incisors to gnaw through bark to expose insect larvae and grubs.

Their incisors also are used to pry open the hard shells of coconuts or hard fruits and nuts. They then use their unique middle finger to scoop out the pulp or nutmeats.

At the zoo: Folivore chow flavored with fruit, honey or peanut butter and a variety of fruits and vegetables, nuts, mealworms, sugarcane and tamarind. Aye-ayes are generally solitary except for mating pairs and females with offspring.

They may tolerate others foraging nearby but females often demonstrate aggression toward other females. Both males and females establish and scent mark territories. Females are only receptive to mating every years due to extensive parental investment.

Females advertise their receptivity with loud vocalizations to attract nearby males and will mate with several males during the estrus period. Aye-ayes mate for up to two and a half hours hanging upside down from a branch.

A single offspring is born after a gestation period of days, and births may occur throughout the year. Newborn aye-ayes are underdeveloped, weigh 3. Only the female cares for the infant. Young are weaned at about seven months but stay with the mother for up to two years before going off on their own.

Lifespan in the wild is unknown but aye-ayes have lived 23 years in captivity. Once thought extinct, aye-ayes were rediscovered in