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The fur is black with whitish tips, the belly and face are pale. There are dark rings around the eyes, and a long bushy tail. This is the largest nocturnal primate in Madagascar.
You won't see one.
There have been about 5 sightings over the last 12 years. You might find a tree that one has bored into.
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| Head & Body Length (Mittermeier et al, 1994) | 400mm (16in) | |
| Tail Length (Mittermeier et al, 1994) | 550mm (21in) | |
| Weight (Kappeler, 1991) | 2570g (91oz) | 2760g (100oz) |
D. madagascariensis mates year round (unlike other lemurs). Gestation is 172 days. Infants are dependent for 2 years. Age at first birth is 3~4 years. Interbirth interval is 2~3 years. One infant is produced per litter.
Locomotion is mainly quadrupedal .
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D. madagascariensis eats insects, seeds fruit, nectar, fungus. They have extraordinary index fingers with which they tap wood to find insects, once found they gnaw into the wood, and use the finger to winkle grubs out of bore holes.
D. madagascariensis is nocturnal.
D. madagascariensis is primarily solitary (occasionally found in pairs). The male's home range is 3-6 times the size of the female's and usually overlaps adjacent females. Male home range: 126-214ha, female home range: 31-40ha.
D. madagascariensis sleep in nests. Nests may be shared by several animals (on different nights).
Allogrooming has not been observed in this species.
Daubentonia madagascariensis is found (sparsely) in both the eastern rainforests and the western deciduous dry forests of Madagascar (Mittermeier et al, 1994).
Mammalia -> Primata (Strepsirrhini, Lemuriformes) -> Daubentoniidae -> Daubentonia madagascariensis
IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre, viewed in July 2000, "Threatened Animals of the World", IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals
Kappeler, PM, 1991, "Patterns of sexual dimorphism in body weight among prosimian primates", Folia Primatologica, 57:132-146
Mittermeier, Russell et al, 1994, The Lemurs of Madagascar, Conservation International
Rowe, Noel, 1996, The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates, Pogonias Press
Sterling E, 1993, "Behavioral ecology of the aye-aye (Daubentonia Madagascariensis) on Nosy Mangabe, Madagascar", Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Sterling EJ, 1995 "Social organization in the aye-aye (Daubentonia Madagascariensis) and the perceived distinctiveness of nocturnal primates", In L Alterman, GA Doyle and MK Izard: Creatures of the Dark: The Nocturnal Prosimians. New York, Plenum Press
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