text x_quick_Title2=Class: Mammalia~Order: Primates~Family: Daubentoniidae
text x_quick=Where In the World~` Aye-ayes are found in nature reserves on Madagascar, most notably on an island called Nosy MangabΘ.~` Once, aye-ayes were found throughout the island of Madagascar.~` There are so few aye-ayes left that years can go by before anyone sees one in the wild.~ ~Take a Look!~` An aye-aye is about 17 inches long, not including a long, feathery tail that measures almost two feet in length.~` The aye-aye weighs about four and a half pounds.~` Aye-ayes have been described as looking a bit like a cat with a squirrel-like head, beaver-ish teeth, bat-like ears, an ostrich feather for a tail, and a middle finger that looks like a long twig.~ ~Related Species~` Aye-ayes are related to the other species of lemurs (there are around 16 different kinds) on Madagascar.~ ~Just the Facts~` An aye-aye is a very rare kind of lemur.~` Aye-ayes are shy, and sleep during the day in a large nest. They move about and find food only at night.~` Most aye-ayes spend their time alone. Only mothers and their babies spend any long amount of time together.~` Lemurs eat fruit and insect larvae as well as coconuts, bamboo shoots, and adult insects.~` Aye-ayes have one baby every two or three years.~` The mother raises her young without help from the father. The baby clings to its mother - at first, it clings to her chest. When it gets a bit older and larger, it moves around to ride piggy-back.~` Aye-ayes are hard to study and no one is very sure about how long they can live in the wild - one in~captivity lived for over 23 years.
;habitat
text x_hab_Title=Habitat
text x_hab= Like all the lemurs, the aye-aye is found in only one place: Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. For millions of years, the lemurs were the dominant primate species in Madagascar, until humans built canoes and made the long journey from Africa. Today, the island of Madagascar has a large human population and the aye-aye is having a hard time finding places to live and survive. In 1965, people began to worry about the aye-aye. Quite a few were gathered up and taken to the island of Nosy MangabΘ, which is off the northeast coast of Madagascar. The entire island became a refuge for the aye-aye. Today, no one is allowed on the island without special permission. Aye-ayes live in rainforests. Their perfect habitat would include a wide variety of trees, because they rely on fruit - it's important to have at least one kind of fruit ripe and ready to eat at almost all times during the year. The other main source of food for the aye-aye are insect grubs which live under the bark of dying or dead trees, so the rainforest must have a good supply of these trees. Aye-ayes can find water in microscopic amounts under tree bark, so they can survive long periods of drought when streams and rivers dry up, although there must be some fresh water available most of the year. Finally, the aye-ayes need to have large, healthy trees in which to build their complicated nests.
;food
text x_eat_Title=Food and Feeding
text x_eat= The aye-aye has an odd-looking middle finger that looks like a long, dead twig. That finger may just be the most remarkable thing about this remarkable animal. The aye-aye loves to eat grubs - insects in the larval stage, before they're full-grown. The grubs live underneath the bark of trees that are dead or dying. When the aye-aye goes after a tasty grub meal, it sits near a likely spot and taps on the bark with its long finger. Then it listens carefully with its large, bat-like ears to see if it can hear the grubs stirring about. If it can, it bites off the outer bark with strong, beaver-like chiseling teeth that are almost a full inch long. Then, once a hole is made, the aye-aye reaches in with its "dead twig" finger and fishes out the grubs inside. Aye-ayes give a coconut a similar treatment - the aye-aye bites a hole into the tough shell and uses its long finger to fish out the sweet meat and rich milk. Aye-ayes eat other fruits, too, plus leaves, seeds, bamboo shoots, adult insects, tree exudates (like resin), and maybe even a few small vertebrate animals.
;habits
text x_life_Title=Lifestyle
text x_life= What does an aye-aye see through? An aye-aye eye, of course! Those eyes are large and bulging, giving the aye-aye a perpetually startled look, but they're so big and round because this rare little lemur is nocturnal. Those are night-vision eyes that let the aye-aye see in very little light. The aye-aye prowls through the trees looking for something to eat. It's just as likely to move from branch to branch as it is to climb down and move about on the ground. When it's walking on the jungle floor, the aye-aye goes on all fours, with the palms of its feet down and all the fingers and toes held up and away. When it gets to be near sunrise, the aye-aye heads home to one of the many nests it has built in its territory. A pair of aye-ayes (male and female) share a home range of about 12 acres. They don't usually spend any time together, but they are a pair, nonetheless. Each pair builds as many as 20 nests throughout their range. These aren't simple little constructions, either. Each one is made of twigs and interlaced leaves and has its own roof, to keep the tropical rains or bright sunshine off the occupant inside. The nest is lined in shredded leaves to make a comfortable bed. Depending on where in the range the aye-aye happens to be, it will sleep in the same nest for several days and then move on to a different area and a different nest. The aye-aye was probably always nocturnal. For the aye-ayes left in the wild, being nocturnal turns out to be a plus, as one of the creatures most likely to kill an aye-aye is a dog. Dogs were brought to the island of Madagascar by people thousands of years ago, and some have returned to a wild state. These wild (or feral) dogs hunt and kill aye-ayes, when they can find them. Dogs happen to be diurnal - that is, they're active in the daytime and sleep at night. So it's best for the aye-aye to stay in bed until the dogs curl up for the night. (The aye-aye's other enemy, the feral or domestic cat, is just as happy hunting at night, so being nocturnal doesn't help aye-ayes there.) Aye-ayes like to be alone, but they aren't aggressive to each other. (In zoos, several aye-ayes can share the same cage without showing any signs of stress.) The pair mate between September and November, just before the rainy season brings plenty of food to eat. The female is pregnant for several months. (No one is sure quite how long, but most lemurs are pregnant for between two and four months - the aye-aye is probably somewhere in that range.) Her single baby is born in December, January, or February. In the United States, that's the middle of winter but on the island of Madagascar, which is in the southern hemisphere, it's high summer, when food is easy for the mother to find. Her baby rides about on her back until it is old enough to move along side her. The infant may nurse from its mother for over a year. Aye-ayes make a variety of noises, including the "aye-aye" call that gave this little creature its name. In addition, it says "rontsit" when it's alarmed or scared, and "creee" when it's trying to get the attention of another aye-aye.
;threats
text x_threat_Title=Threats
text x_threat= Millions of years ago, all the continents on the planet formed one big supercontinent, called Gondwanaland. Africa was part of it, and so was Madagascar. Eventually, the continents drifted apart, and Madagascar separated from what is now the coast of Mozambique.~ When it left the mainland, it took the life forms that were common at the time. Over millions of years, evolution brought new and strong animals to the major continents, like monkeys and eventually humans. But Madagascar didn't change. The creatures that live there now are on a sort of life raft from millions of years ago. Their ancestors on the mainland died out because of the new animals - the creatures on Madagascar will, too, if the new animals aren
