The Endangered Aye- Aye

Daubentonia madagascariensis

• They are located in eastern, northern, and central-western regions of the forests of Madagascar.

• Their diet consists of fruits, nuts, seeds, and insects. They are also known to raid plantations for coconuts, lychees, and mangoes.

• They live in the high canopy (usually over 70 meters high) in rainforest or dry deciduous forest.

• The Aye-aye uses percussion foraging, which means it uses its finger to tap on trees, sensing if there are hollow spots where bugs might be.

• Conservation Status & Population

  - Endangered on IUCN red list due to the loss of habitat and hunting

  - There are between 1,000 and 10,000 Aye-ayes left in the world

  - The population of Aye-ayes seems to be in a sharp decline since the 1980s

• Human threats

  - Habitat loss of aye-aye’s natural forest habitat because of logging and urbanization

  - Farmers kill aye-ayes because they are wrongly suspected for causing crop damage

  - Lack of knowledge/education about aye-ayes makes people suspicious, and superstitious beliefs are already prevalent. “Aye-aye” can be translated as “I don’t know” in Malagasy because they associate this lemur with bad luck.

  - Exponential population growth in Madagascar

  - Occasionally hunted for food

Protection efforts

• Now protected by federal law in Madagascar

  Breeding center at Duke University in North Carolina, the Duke Lemur Center.

• National Park and Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve provide them with protection. The special reserve was established in 1965 to protect the aye-aye.