Primate Spotlight: Aye-aye

I am not really a fan of primate species such as chimps, gorillas, and so forth. I see people look at them and call them beautiful, and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. Knowing this, you may find it super weird that I decided to write a spotlight on a supremely ugly primate called an aye-aye (pronounced like saying the long "I" sound twice). My reasons have origins within my imagination, and I will try to explain as I go.

The aye-aye--when young--is a silver colored primate with large ears and a stripe down its back. When they grow up, their fur will fill out better, the stripe will mostly disappear, and some yellow and brown will mix itself into the scheme. The adults grow up to be about 3 feet long with a tail as long as its body. Its large ears work similarly to bats--a process called echolocation; however, it does not actually cry out like bats to. It makes taps with its fingers and uses the sound to measure distance. It can also use this ability to figure out where predators are.

Aye-ayes live in trees like most small primates do; however, these creatures can only be found up and down the coasts of Madagascar. They make little nests and sometimes share them with other aye-ayes--although, never at the same time. I found it interesting that males will often cohabitate with others males in quite a friendly way. This relationship remains quite friendly until mating season, and then there is war. Yes, the males who have been great friends up until that point will suddenly be enemies--all in the name of getting the female.

The diet of the aye-aye is mostly fruit and berries; however, they are also fond of bug larvae. This officially makes them omnivores. They spend the three hours after sunset looking for food. They usually do this in groups--helping each other out.

The thing that really blows me away about these creatures is how they look. They are rather frightening--especially at a young age; they don't look quite as bad as adults. Their face remind me something of the gremlins of the movie with the same name. It is kind of uncanny to see them, and it sort of feels like you are seeing some sort of tiny monster. The other aspect of them that weirds me out are their fingers. They have these incredibly long bony fingers that they use for a number of actions. It reminds me a lot of pictures of aliens which are usually shown having similarly long fingers. It's very creepy, in my opinion.

There are a lot of theories of where the aye-aye's name came from. Many believe that it came from someone's first encounter with the creature. They say he shouted, "Aye aye!" as an expression of surprise. The most interesting origin comes from the Malagasy people who claim that the term aye-aye translates into something like "heh heh" which doesn't actually mean anything. They would make that noise in place of naming the creature in case the aye-aye was of magical origin. Having seen it, I don't really blame them.

The fiction of the aye-aye is tied up in folk tales. It is unsurprising that many believe that the aye-aye is a harbinger of evil. It is said that if the creature points its longest bony finger directly at a person, that person is marked for death. The Sakalava people fear that the aye-aye will use that same creepy finger to punch in a person's aorta while they sleep at night. None of this is true, but the human imagination has regularly turned these primates into monsters.

I am personally fine with the monster angle for the aye-aye. If I were to use them in a story, they would be something like creepy goblins going about looking for victims. There have been a few times I have ignored reality for the far more interesting fiction; however, I will say that it is not a good thing for these creatures to be killed for this superstition. They really are harmless.

In closing, I want to point out that the aye-aye are marked as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. They are really being killed based on the local beliefs that there are evil. That is not fair, and I wish it would stop. There is a captive breeding program set up to restore their population taking place at the Duke Lemur Center located in Durham, North Carolina. I wish them much success in their endeavor. It is a shame that a creature that has inspired the imagination so much is being killed for that very same reason. I love the aye-aye because they look like monsters. They are the perfect inspiration for a good, solid Halloween story. Let's keep them around just for that.

Thank you for reading this blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thank you!