The Aye-aye, the largest nocturnal lemur endemic to Madagascar, faces a number of threats to its existence. Scientifically, the aye-aye goes by Daubentonia madagascariensis, and it is the only extant member of its taxonomic family, making it a unique species as well as making its plight all the more urgent. The greatest threat to aye-aye survival is habitat loss. This problem began around 15000 to 20000 years ago, when humans first settled on Madagascar; however, it has taken until the 20th Century for the human population to grow rapidly enough to encroach upon the habitats of other island dwellers. The chief human activities that lead to deforestation are slash and burn agriculture, clearing land for development, and logging. The forests have been fragmented by human activities which has in turn fragmented already low-density populations of aye-ayes. This type of fragmentation decreases opportunities for breeding and reduces genetic variability among aye-aye populations. The next biggest threat to the aye-aye is the widely held Malagasy belief that aye-ayes are harbingers of evil that bring death and bad luck to the communities they come into contact with. This has led to the killing of many an unfortunate aye-aye. In fact, it was once believed that the name “aye-aye” came from the screams and yells of frightened villagers upon seeing the animal.
Little is known about the aye-aye. They are nocturnal creatures that live in nests in forest canopies throughout Madagascar. While aye-ayes are typically solitary, they have been known to form small groups while feeding and share nests. The fossa is believed to be the only predator of the aye-aye. The aye-aye’s diet consists of insect larvae, fruits, nuts, bamboo, nectar and small animals. The aye-aye’s unusually long and thin 3rd digit is used to tap on wood to locate and extract larvae from wood. The aye-aye has incisors that continue to grow throughout its life (a feature unique to the aye aye among primates), which allow it to rip through bark to get to its food source. Its incredibly large and rounded ears allow it to listen for larvae activity (or inactivity) in the wood. The aye-aye is roughly the size of a house cat, with a coarse dark coat, a long bushy tail and yellow to brown eyes. The aye-aye’s strikingly unusual physical appearance led early scientists to classify it as a rodent. The aye-aye lives about 20 years and males and females have several different mates throughout their lives. Much of our knowledge of aye-ayes today comes from aye-ayes studied in captivity, such as the ones living in captive breeding programs at zoos and research facilities.
The aye-aye’s status was labeled “critical” in 1991, but efforts to conserve the aye-aye began as early as the 1960s. In 1966, aye-ayes were released to Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve to breed and live in an area free from deforestation. The government of Madagascar has set aside land on the island for the establishment of over 40 national parks and protected areas, 16 out of which, aye-ayes inhabit. In 1992, the first birth of an aye-aye in captivity took place. It will be necessary to expand captive breeding programs, conduct more research into the ecological niche of the aye-aye, set up education programs in Madagascar and discourage practices that contribute to deforestation and habitat loss. While the future of the aye-aye is uncertain (there could be anywhere from 1,000 – 10,000 left in the wild), the combined efforts of the Madagascar government, universities, conservationists and zoos have already made great strides toward conserving the species and protecting what is left of its habitat.
Works Cited
Aye-aye Factsheet. (2006, June). Retrieved November 2, 2010 from Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Web site: http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Ayeaye/
Cohn, Jeffrey P. (1993). Madagascar’s Mysterious Aye-Ayes. Bioscience, Vol. 43 Issue 10, 668-671.
Martin, Robert D. (2000). Origins, Diversity and Relationships of Lemurs. International Journal of Primatology, Vol. 21 Issue 6, 1021 – 1049.
Madagascan Lemurs. Retrieved November 1, 2010, from the University of Edinburgh, Natural History Collections web site: http://www.nhc.ed.ac.uk/index.php?page=493.504.513.510
Quinn, Aleta and Wilson, Don E. (2004, July 13). Daubentonia madagascariensis. Mammalian Species, 740, 2-6.
