Aye-Aye Daubentonia madagascariensis

 Aye-ayes can be found only on the island of Madagascar. These rare animals may not look like primates at first glance, but they are related to chimpanzees, apes, and humans.


Aye-ayes are dark brown or black and are distinguished by a bushy tail that is larger than their body. They also feature big eyes, slender fingers, and large, sensitive ears. Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches.

Aye-ayes spend their lives in rain forest trees and avoid coming down to earth. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees.

While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal's insect diet.

Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have made the aye-aye critically endangered. Today they are protected by law.

What Is a Reptile?
Today there are 6,800 reptile species on earth; the major groups are alligators and crocodiles, turtles, lizards, and snakes. All reptiles are cold-blooded, which is why they warm themselves in the sun, and have bodies covered in dry, horny scales. Some reptiles lay eggs; others give birth to live young.

What Is an Amphibian?
Like birds, reptiles, mammals, and fishes,amphibians are vertebrates -- that is, creatures with a backbone and an internal skeleton.Amphibians live part of their life in water and part on land. Even those species that lay eggs on land start life in a fluid-filled egg, breathing through gills.

What Is a Bird?
Birds are warm-blooded creatures, like mammals, but they lay eggs, like most reptiles. All birds have feathers and wings, and most birds are able to fly. Birds are amazingly varied in their shapes, sizes, colors, and behavior patterns. There are more than 9,000 different species of birds in the world.

What Is a Fish?
Fishes come in an amazing variety of shapes and colors, but they all have three important things in common: All fishes live in water, have fins, and use gills to get oxygen from the water. We have also included a few sea creatures -- some jellyfish and octopods -- in this category.

What Is a Mammal?
Mammals live on land, at sea, in the air, and under the ground. All mammals, from bats to whales, share a number of important traits that make them different from other animals. Mammals are warm-blooded, they have fur or hair, and most mammals give birth to live young (rather than laying eggs).