Aye-aye

This article is about the lemur species. For the nautical phrase, see Yes and no § Aye and variants.
For other uses of "aiai", see Aiai (disambiguation).

Aye-aye
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Daubentoniidae
Genus: Daubentonia
Species:
D. madagascariensis
Binomial name
Daubentonia madagascariensis
(Gmelin, 1788)
D. madagascariensis distribution[1]
Synonyms

Species:

  • Daubentonia daubentonii Shaw, 1800
  • Daubentonia laniger G. Grandidier, 1930
  • Daubentonia psilodactylus Schreber, 1800

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow[3] and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs and larvae out of tree trunks.

It is the world's largest nocturnal primate.[4] It is characterized by its unusual method of finding food: it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood using its forward-slanting incisors to create a small hole into which it inserts its narrow middle finger to pull the grubs out. This foraging method is called percussive foraging, and takes up 5–41% of foraging time.[5][6] The only other living mammal species known to find food in this way are the striped possum and trioks (genus Dactylopsila) of northern Australia and New Guinea, which are marsupials.[7] From an ecological point of view, the aye-aye fills the niche of a woodpecker, as it is capable of penetrating wood to extract the invertebrates within.[8][9]

The aye-aye is the only extant member of the genus Daubentonia and family Daubentoniidae. It is currently classified as Endangered by the IUCN. A second species, Daubentonia robusta, appears to have become extinct at some point within the last 1000 years, and is known from subfossil finds.[10]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference IUCN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CITES was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Petter, J.; Albignac, R.; Rumpler, Y. (1977). "Primates Prosimiens". ORSTOM.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nationalgeographic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Erickson, C.J.; Nowicki, S.; Dollar, L.; Goehring, N. (1998). "Percussive Foraging: Stimuli for Prey Location by Aye-Ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis)". International Journal of Primatology. 19 (1): 111. doi:10.1023/A:1020363128240. S2CID 27737088.
  6. ^ Sterling, E.J.; McCreless, E.E. (2006). "Adaptations in the ayeaye: A review". Lemurs: Ecology and Adaptations. Gould L, Sauther ML.
  7. ^ Sterling 2003, p. 1348.
  8. ^ Piper 2007, p. [page needed].
  9. ^ Beck 2009.
  10. ^ Nowak 1999, pp. 533–534.