Animals On Earth: India, Asia, China, Hawaii, And Madagascar

Aye-Aye

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow.

Aye-ayes are the most unusual looking of all lemurs. They are the world's largest nocturnal primate

The world's largest nocturnal primate, this lemur spends the night eating and traveling the forest canopy, occasionally descending to the ground and exploring human areas. During the day, aye-ayes sleep in elaborate, spherical nests made of leaves and branches.

The aye-aye is an omnivore and commonly eats seeds, nuts, fruits, nectar, plant exudates and fungi, but also xylophagous, or wood boring, insect larvae (especially cerambycid beetle larvae) and honey. Aye-ayes tap on the trunks and branches of trees at a rate of up to eight times per second, and listen to the echo .

The only non-human predator of the aye-aye is the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), a larger mammal. Mothers in captivity have been observed carrying their offspring around in their mouths when they want to move them.