Presenting the Aye-Aye

J.R.R. Tolkien said that if the Aye-Aye was shorn of all his hair and made to stand on his hind feet he would bear a strong resemblance to the legendary "Gollum" of the Lord of the Rings. The Aye-Aye (Daubentoniamadagascariensis) is considered to be one of the rarest surviving mammals on Earth. There is only one remaining species. It is also known as the Hay-Hay, Ahay and Aiay among the Malagasy (the people of Madagascar). Gerald Durrell, founder of the Wildlife Trust and author of the book - The Aye-aye and I, describes the Aye-Aye as a cross between 'a Walt Disney witch's black cat and Spielberg's E.T.' In reality it is a cross between a bat, rabbit and a squirrel.

The aye-aye is the largest nocturnal primate in the world. They are also the only primate thought to use echolocation, which they use to find grubs up to 2cm deep in a tree. Like the cat during the European Middle Ages, the aye-aye is thought to be an evil creature, and for this reason it is traditionally shot on sight by the inhabitants of Madagascar, the only place where it is found. The aye-aye formerly inhabited much of the coastal area of eastern and northwestern Madagascar. By 1983 only a few scattered individuals were thought to remain on the northeast and possibly northwest coasts. The aye-aye has been found to be widely distributed in the Eastern rain forest belt. The aye-aye is a very adaptable creature. It lives in rain forests, deciduous forest as well as scrub. It occurs in the Sambirano, Manasamody, Ankarana and Montagne d'Ambre regions.

The head and body length of the aye-aye is about 30 - 37 cm. The tail is about 44 - 53 cm long. It weighs 2 - 3 kg. The aye-aye has coarse, shaggy black fur with a mantle of white guard hairs. It has 5-fingered hands with flat nails, and the middle finger is very long. There is no particular season for the Aye-Aye to give birth, it happens throughout the year. A single offspring is generally produced. There are indications that females have a 2 - 3 year interval between births. The gestation period lasts for approximately 165 days. Most Aye-Aye's are ready to reproduce once they are 3 years old. The aye-aye will mate at any time of the year, and will nurse her young for about seven months. During mating, aye-ayes hang upside-down on a branch, and the procedure lasts for about an hour. The lifespan of the Aye - Aye can stretch up to 25 years in captivity.

Its varied diet includes insect grubs, fruits, nuts, nectar, seeds and fungi. It is also known to feast on coconut plantations. The aye-aye has a highly specialized third finger that is long and thin. It uses this extremely long third finger to remove grubs from rotting wood and to find the level of milk in coconuts. The Aye-Aye's modus operandi is similar to that of a woodpecker. The aye-aye is a nocturnal forager. Most of the night is spent traveling and foraging in the upper canopy. Male Aye-Aye's are capable of traveling up to 2 - 4 km in a single night in search of food. They spend more than 80 percent of their time in the treetops.

The aye-aye displays high comfort levels in the presence of human beings. Wild aye-ayes have been known to stroll nonchalantly down a village street in Madagascar and walk past humans. But this makes it an easy target for the villagers who perceive the Aye-Aye to be a harbinger of death. Loss of forest habitat is the main threat to the Aye-Aye. Various Government and non - Government agencies are putting in a lot of effort to ensure the survival of the Aye-Aye. In order to protect the aye-aye, at least 16 reserve areas have been set up throughout Madagascar. A number of individuals have been captured and released on the island of Nosy Mangabe, a protected reserve off the northeast coast of Madagascar.