AYE-AYE

Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), eating a coconut (Daubentonia madagascariensis), rare, squirrellike primate, the sole living representative of the family Daubentoniidae, found in Madagascan rain forests. The aye-aye is about 40 cm (16 inches) long excluding the bushy, 55- to 60-centimetre tail; and it is covered with long, coarse, dark brown or black fur. It has a short face, large eyes, and rodentlike, ever-growing incisors. Its hands are large, and its fingers, especially the third, are long and slender. All its fingers have pointed claws, as do all its toes except the large, opposable, flat-nailed great toes. The aye-aye is nocturnal, solitary, and arboreal. It constructs a large, ball-like nest of leaves in a fork in the tree branches and feeds mainly on insects and fruit. It locates wood-boring insect larvae by tapping with the long third finger, and it uses this finger to extract the insects. It also uses the third finger to dig the pulp out of fruit. The female bears a single young. The aye-aye is listed as critically endangered in the Red Data Book and is protected by law from human depredation.