Why is this animal unusual?
The aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal primate and it hunts like no other mammal: by knocking on wood. It taps a branch up to eight times a second, listens for hollow tunnels with its giant ears, then chews a hole and fishes out the grub inside. Basically a woodpecker with fingers.
Why does it look like that?
Every strange part has a job. The huge ears catch the echo of its tapping. The front teeth never stop growing, like a rodent’s, so it can gnaw through wood. And the big eyes soak up every bit of light in the midnight forest.
Strangest biological feature
The middle finger. It’s long, bony and thin as a twig, with a ball-and-socket joint that lets it swivel in almost any direction. The aye-aye uses it to tap, to scoop out larvae – and, as scientists filmed in 2022, to pick its nose all the way down to the throat.
Why is it strange?
When it was first discovered, scientists thought it was a kind of squirrel. It took decades to agree it was a lemur. And in 2019 researchers found a tiny hidden sixth “thumb” on each wrist that nobody had noticed before.
Interesting behavioral facts
Aye-ayes spend their nights travelling through the treetops and their days asleep in ball-shaped nests of leaves. They are mostly loners. They also have very little fear of people and will walk right up to a human – which hasn’t worked out well for them.
Records held
It’s the only living member of its entire family, Daubentoniidae. Sadly it also holds the title of Madagascar’s unluckiest animal: in local folklore, an aye-aye pointing its finger at you means death, so many are killed on sight.
