Images of the freaky Lemur - Aye-Aye

The aye-aye is a freaky-looking lemur that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate and is characterized by its unusual method of finding food.
In the dark of the night, its long & slender, clawed fingers and plumed tail along with its hairless ears, cannot be seen.  Basically, if you were to run across one at night, all you'd see is two glowing eyes.  Personally, I'm totally fine with just seeing the images online; ha!

This strange, freaky animal dwells in the forests of Madagascar.  They are considered to be a threatened or at least near threatened species, going by numerous sources and reports, so they most likely need to be protected from going extinct, in the near future.

Anyway, this animal was long thought to be a squirrel because of its rodent-like incisors.  It lives alone or in pairs.  Aye-ayes make their home in underbrush or in a tree hollow, coming out to feed at night.  This strange-looking lemur eats fruit but mainly the larvae of insects that bore into tree trunks.  It finds the larvae by listening for them and when it has located some, it gnaws at the bark, puts its long center finger into the larva's tunnel and pulls it out with its claw-like nail.

---Per Wikipedia, "the aye-aye is a near threatened species not only because its habitat is being destroyed, but also due to native superstition.  Besides being a general nuisance in villages, ancient Malagasy legend said the Aye-aye was a symbol of death.   However, public contempt goes beyond this. The aye-aye is often viewed as a harbinger of evil and killed on sight. Others believe, if one points its narrowest finger at someone, they are marked for death. Some say the appearance of an aye-aye in a village predicts the death of a villager, and the only way to prevent this is to kill it."---
If you'd like to read more from Wikipedia, go here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aya_aye

Dang!  It sounds like local superstition and silly folklore is this creature's worst enemy!

I could list other legends, folklore and asinine beliefs about this animal, but since this isn't a blog about myths, legends, & folklore, I'll pass.

At any rate, I'll provide a few images of this critter, below:

 

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