Is It Bye-bye to the Aye-aye, the World’s Ugliest Creature?
Meet the Aye-Aye, the animals many believe to be the ugliest on the planet. Unfortunately for this creature, it is also one of the most endangered. Will it soon be time to wave bye-bye to the Aye-Aye or can it be brought back from the edge of extinction?
Pity the Aye-Aye. It is one of those animals that always gets on to top ten lists of the world’s ugliest creatures and sure enough, this native of Madagascar is unlikely to win any beauty contests. It is incredibly rare and becoming even more so for a number of reasons. It is the sole member of its genus family, Daubentoniidae, although there seems to have been another species as recently as one thousand years ago.
Unfortunately, the Aye-Aye is viewed with great superstition by the indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar and is often killed on sight. It is thought that its rather strange name derives from what the villagers call to each other, when one is spotted, as a warning that this “bad omen” is present. It is thought that the species could be driven to extinction in the wild in only a few more years.
As such the Aye-Aye is unique and effort is being made to preserve this wonderfully ugly species. It has little going for it in some respect – not least its looks, but there is a strong case for its preservation. To begin with it is the world’s largest nocturnal primate and as such has a high position in the pantheon of animals. They weigh very little, a mere two and a half kilos and do not exhibit any sexual dimorphism apart from a little difference in the weight between the male and the female (and their genitals, of course!). In this respect they are rather difficult to tell Mister apart from Missus! Peculiarly, the Aye-Aye will hang upside down from branches when it is mating.
As well as being the world’s largest nocturnal primate, the Aye-aye has a unique feeding mechanism which has, unfortunately, been one of the reasons leading to its persecution. Its fingers are particularly long and thin and when relaxed they give the impression something akin to that of a fairy tale witch. To make matters even worse (in terms of its appearance) the middle finger can be as much as three time longer than the others. It uses this finger to search for grubs within holes in branches.
This long middle finger is part of the Aye-Aye’s downfall. Many believe that if an Aye-Aye points at you using this middle finger that death will surely follow. The Sakalava people of Madagascar go even further. They maintain that the Aye-Aye secretes itself in to houses at night and uses the elongated middle finger to pierce the heart of its “victim”. This of course is completely spurious but has led to the victimization of the creature on a large and remorseless scale.
A further problem for the Aye-Aye is its fearlessness. It will happily stroll in to a village, have a mosey around and exit with apparent nonchalance. It will also happily approach people in the wild and have a sniff around their feet. Unfortunately, many Madagascans believe that when an Aye-Aye wanders in to a village it presages the death of one of their number. So, the Aye-Aye is killed whenever it is spotted.
Added to this, although the Aye-Aye can give birth at any time during the year, the female will often wait up to three years between births. This doesn’t exactly replenish the stock very quickly, especially when the young can stay with the mother almost to adulthood. Due to the destruction of its habitat, the rainforest, many Aye-Aye not try to live in cultivated areas, which exposes them to the threat from humans even more.
The Aye-Aye was thought of as a solitary creature and this is true of the female of the species. She will never allow another female’s territory to overlap in to her own. The male, however, can be quite friendly with other males and his territory will often overlap in to that of several females. The Aye-Aye is classed as an omnivore as they will eat fruit, nuts and grubs as well. They will often steal from the villages that they visit, having a fondness for the coconuts and mangoes that can be found picked and ready to eat there. Unfortunately, this does not make them desperately popular with the villagers!
There are very few breeding programs of the Aye-Aye in the world. Most successful among the few, however, is the Duke Lemur Center in the USA which has twenty two and there are several programs in the United Kingdom. However, there is no real idea how many Aye-Aye’s still exist in the wild and it is considered highly endangered as a species, with a pessimistic forecast predicted for its survival in its indigenous surroundings. Keep your fingers crossed for this ugly child of nature!
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32 Responses to “Is It Bye-bye to the Aye-aye, the World’s Ugliest Creature?”
On August 30, 2008 at 7:11 am
nice article,hope this creature can be save from extinction
On August 30, 2008 at 7:22 am
It is so ugly it is beautiful, good read thanks
On August 30, 2008 at 8:11 am
So ugly yet so lovable. I’ll be sad if this specie succumbed to extinction.
On August 30, 2008 at 9:29 am
I think they are wonderful animals.
On August 30, 2008 at 9:31 am
I love these little guys. They always look surprised to see you.
On August 30, 2008 at 9:32 am
If you are cuter, like a baby seal or tiger cub, chances are you will have people fighting to keep you alive.
On August 30, 2008 at 11:59 am
Poor lemurs. Why doesn’t some agency teach the people of the region that they’re harmless? Many of the world’s problems can be solved through simple education. I suppose the problem is that educated people are harder to manipulate, and there are many forces at work that do not want educated people. Still, not everyone must serve those forces, must they?
On August 30, 2008 at 1:05 pm
It is a shame that these creatures are desappearing from the face of the planet, even if they are ugly for us, they are not for there own kind. We are the ugly ones in the eyes of the Aye-Ayes
On August 31, 2008 at 12:43 am
nice article… great….
On September 2, 2008 at 4:32 pm
They look really cute to me,not ugly at all. They look like they have PERSONALITY.A quality often lacking in people.
On September 3, 2008 at 2:09 am
Where do you find this info? Great article.
On September 7, 2008 at 3:46 am
What a terrific little creature! Like Andreab who’s commented before me – I think it’s a sweetie. Thank heavens there are people out there willing to save them. Let’s hope they succeed.
On September 17, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I hadn’t even heard of these creatures until I read this article! But I think these creatures look gorgeus, and i hope they can be saved from extinction, I’m glad people are already trying to help them. these creatures seem sweet.
On October 31, 2008 at 4:53 pm
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On November 5, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Love the article, always kind of the Aye-Aye myself. Good stuff in here I havent read before.
On November 19, 2008 at 5:53 am
On December 1, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Just Coz A Creature Is Ugly, It Doesnt Mean You Have The Right To Kill It. A Human Wouldnt Like It If Someone Came And Tried To Kill Them Coz They Were Ugly, So Why Do It To The Aye-Aye\’s ?? x
On December 7, 2008 at 8:06 am
How sad, I think that they are just adorable!
On January 27, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but unfortunately for the aye-aye, it’s appearance says otherwise. We live in a society when looks are everything. If only for once, people can see what is truly beautiful. tis a pity really now.
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On February 28, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Whomsoever harm this cute creature will burn to crisp!!!
On April 12, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I’m reasearchin about this little creature for my article at school.. thankxx for the info. Great help. nd i don’t see why they’re uglyy.. they seem pretty cute to me with their cutey big eyess..
On April 21, 2009 at 10:27 am
They are not ugly, but there are superstitons about them that cause people to persecute them. Therefore, people say they are ugly when they are accually pretty cute. There is one other reason and that is because of disforestation.
Love the article though.
Get maps of the Aye-Aye in it’s past, present, and your prediction of the future.
On May 18, 2009 at 3:11 am
These magnifisant creatures have every right to live, And from the text it seems like they are good natured and have a well behaved addtitude torwards humans..besides Aye Aye’s and humans are related so these breath taking angels are our family and we have to protect them in every way we can.
On July 1, 2009 at 3:11 am
What I dont get is, why is that people are so against abortion, when they can stand by and watch animals be morbidly murdered. In my opinion, these creatures are absolutely adorable!
On August 2, 2009 at 11:45 pm
So Cute it would be very sad if it died i have to say that the angler fish is uglier though
On August 13, 2009 at 12:52 pm
you should save the poor little aye aye it is so cute
On August 13, 2009 at 12:54 pm
its is very ugly i cant look at it
On August 13, 2009 at 12:55 pm
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On October 29, 2009 at 5:06 am
this sucks. aye ayes are the 2nd coolest thing on earth
On November 12, 2009 at 7:55 pm
this thing is ugly as a mofo… it deserves to go exstinct
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