Aye-aye
Daubentonia madagascariensis
Where is it found?
Tropical forest
Diet and foraging method
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Aye-ayes use their specialised middle finger for extracting insect larvae from decaying wood, scooping out coconut pulp and testing the quantity of milk within a coconut.
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Key adaptations
The Aye-aye uses its long middle finger to tap a tree and its large ears to listen for grubs under the bark. It then exposes them by gnawing into the bark with its rodent-like front teeth, and extracting them with its long middle finger.
Social organisation and mating system
Solitary
Promiscuous
Did you know that...?
That the Aye-aye is the world's largest nocturnal mammal and is seen as a bad omen by locals, thus is still hunted despite being endangered.
Taxonomy
Picture credits:
Maps from: http://species.mol.org/species/
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 2" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_2.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_2.jpg
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 1" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_1.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_1.jpg
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 3" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_3.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_3.jpg
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 2" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_2.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_2.jpg
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 1" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_1.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_1.jpg
"Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) 3" by Tom Junek - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_3.jpg#/media/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_3.jpg
