Habitat:
They live in primary and secondary rainforest, deciduous forest, cultivated forest, and occasionally dry scrub forest and mangrove forest.
Diet:
Wild: Insectivore, Frugivore, and herbivore. They eat fruits, nuts, plant exudates, breadfruit, banana, coconuts, ramy nuts, bamboo, nectar from the ‘tree of travelers’, and mangoes. An important component of the aye-aye’s diet is insect larvae, especially cerambycid beetle larvae.
Gestation:
152 to 172 days
Litter:
average one
Life Span:
23 years
Description:
Aye-ayes have a head-body length from 360-440 mm and a long bushy tail. The coat is long and can be either dark brown or black in color, with white guard hairs. The face and throat are pale gray and facial features include yellow-orange or sandy brown eyes surrounded by dark markings, large triangular ears, a short snout and a pink nose. They have delicate fingers and cannot carry much weight; they use narrow, vertical, horizontal, or oblique branches to support them in locomotion. The long middle finger is used for eating, drinking and grooming. Most of the daytime they spend sleeping in a nest in the upper two levels of the canopy. Individuals tend to sleep singly, but may share a nest on occasion. Nests can be occupied by different individuals at different times. Activity begins half an hour before sunset and continues three hours after sunset. The males are usually active before the females. They spend the night foraging, feeding, and grooming. Aye-ayes can rest vertically or horizontally.
Did You Know?
Aye-ayes are important predators of wood-boring beetle larvae.
Daubentonia madagascariensis is the only extant member of the family Daubentoniidae.
The common name "aye-aye" may be derived from the “hai-hai” vocalization they make while fleeing from their nests.
Where in the Zoo?
I can be found in the Lemur Exhibits at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
