Features and Superstitions of Aye-Aye - Research Paper Example

Aye-aye (Aye-Aye Madagascar) There are lots of animals which face total destruction because of the injudicious and visionless activities of human and Aye-aye is one among them. Aye-aye is one of the mysterious creatures on earth found mainly in Madagascar. “These rare animals may not look like primates at first glance, but they are related to chimpanzees, apes, and humans” (Aye-aye). They are dark brown in color and have big eyes. They have a longer tail which often extends longer than the actual length of their body. Perhaps the most marked trait of the aye-aye is a thin and elongated middle finger on each of its hands. This third digit is independent in movement from the other digits and is extremely versatile. The third digits complete independence in movement serves two main purposes, tapping to find insects within cavities in wood and probing to find and remove larvae from those cavities. This method of locating and extracting insect larval prey is called percussive foraging (Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis) The unique appearance, rodent like teeth, peculiar ways of finding food, superstitions around it etc made aye-aye one of the interesting creations of God. “It is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unique method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its elongated middle finger to pull the grubs out” (Aye-Aye Madagascar). This paper briefly analyses different features and superstitions associated with aye-aye. Aye-aye found mainly on the east coast of Madagascar. Rain forests are the habitat of this creature. Majority of the time, aye ayes are spent on tree tops even though they occasionally climb down and moving on the land. However, the destruction of forests or deforestation caused aye-ayes to come out from their natural habitat and visit the populated areas. Aye-aye is a mammal which makes nests for its shelter. “The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees” (Aye-aye). Like many of the other creatures, they sleep during day and hunt during the night. The major foods of aye-ayes are nuts, grubs, fruits, nectar, seeds, fungi etc. It eats both plants and meats or it eats both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. Coconuts, mangoes, sugar cane, eggs of other creatures etc are other major foods of aye-aye. The diet of the aye-aye is largely wood-boring grubs, which are found under the bark of trees. The aye-aye uses its long middle finger to carefully tap the wood, and it uses its excellent hearing to listen for signs of movement. When it detects grubs it gnaws the wood with its imposing incisors and tenaciously digs through it to extract the worms, using its flexible third finger to extricate them from their woody burrows. Such ‘percussive foraging’ puts the aye-aye in the same ecological niche as that of the woodpecker elsewhere. The aye-aye will also eat fruits, nuts, nectar, seeds and fungi if given the opportunity (Dykes) “After tapping the tree bark, it uses its sensitive hearing to detect the movement of insect larvae. Studies have found that the aye-aye is capable of sensing insect movement at a depth of 12 feet” (Daubentonia madagascariensis - Aye-aye). Aye-ayes have highly developed brains and they are considered as some of the most intelligent creatures of earth. The intelligence of aye-ayes can be seen in its hunting of prey for food. Because of superior intelligence, they are not much afraid of humans unlike many other animals. They constantly change their habitats based on the changes of seasons and adjust their food habits also along with the changes in seasons. Earlier many people thought that aye-aye may not socialize much with other creatures. However, some of the current researches shown that aye-aye is more friendly in their nature than expected. Both male and female aye- ayes make separate nests for their shelter. Male aye-ayes are more social than the female aye ayes and they often stay in groups. Same way female aye-ayes also make their own nests and they stay together on a particular territory. Only during the mating period, male and female aye-ayes meet each other or stay together. Unlike the custom among human, female aye ayes are more dominant than the male aye-ayes. At the same time, male aye-ayes are more aggressive in their nature and they fight each other for mating with a particular female aye-aye. Female aye is responsible for growing up the offspring. The infant aye-aye may become an adult aye-aye within 13 weeks. Aye-ayes do not have any specific mating pattern. Female aye-aye mate with as much male aye-ayes. While most of the other animals take only shorter period of time for mating, aye-ayes take usually one hour for mating. During the mating period usually other male ay-ayes stay away from the mating couple. In case of an intrusion of another male aye-aye during the mating period, severe fight would be the result. After one particular mating is over, the female aye-ayes start calling other male aye-ayes immediately. “Female estrus is externally visible in the female and is characterized by genital swelling and color change. Full estrus lasts from around 3 to 9 days. In the wild, before and during mating activity, swollen genitalia and an increase in scent-marking have been observed in both sexes” (Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis). There are no particular season or time for the mating between aye-ayes. It can take place any time during an year. Usually around 170 days will take for the aye-aye embryo for the completion of growth. After 170 days from the mating, the female aye-aye gives birth to its child and the child will suck milk from its mother for at least seven months. The life span of aye-aye is around ten years only. Aye-ayes are quite unlucky animals because of the severe enmity human keeps with them. Deforestation forced aye-ayes to come out from the forests and to destroy the villager’s crops. Thus, villagers often watch aye-aye as a nuisance. Moreover, several superstitions are associated with aye-ayes. Most of the Madagascar villagers are uneducated and often don’t know the importance of preserving this rapidly disappearing creature. Adaptation is more curse than blessing for some of these tree dwellers, which are beaten by Madagascan villagers who see the crooked claw as a harbinger of death. Farmers too, get their licks, persecuting the worlds largest nocturnal primates for their night raids on sweet crops like coconuts and sugarcane. Also, some Madagascans hunt the 4.5-pound (2-kilogram) aye-ayes for their meat (Aye-Aye Debut) Aye-aye is a mysterious creature because of the superstitions associated with it. Most of the Madagascar people believe that Aye-aye is the symbol of death because of the disturbances it causes to the public life. Because of the above belief, the people in Madagascar try to kill aye-ayes when they get an opportunity. The presence of an aye-aye in a village is believed to be the symbol of death of a villager and the only way of escaping from that death is to kill the aye-aye they have seen. In other words, the superstition is such that the death of an aye-aye will save the life of a villager. Because of such uncontrolled killing, the species of aye-ayes are rapidly disappearing from the world. However, there are some people who consider that presence of aye-aye may bring luck to them. Even in zoos and animal research centers, it is difficult to see aye-ayes because of the shortage of living aye ayes in the world. Since aye-ayes have only shorter life span, it is difficult to preserve them even in zoos or animal research centers. Moreover, it is difficult for aye-ayes to survive in unnatural habitats. They often like to live in forests and changes in its habitat often result in their deaths. To conclude, aye-ayes are unlucky mysterious animals which face total destruction of its species from earth. It is seen mainly in the rain forests of Madagascar. Its peculiar shape, longer tail than the body, rodent teeth, jaws, appearance, eating habits, intelligence, mating habits, habitat etc made it one of the interesting creatures for animal lovers. Its life span is hardly ten years. Aye-ayes eat both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. Female aye-ayes mate with more than one male aye-ayes and the mating period usually extend even up to one hour. Male aye-ayes are more aggressive in their nature even though female aye-ayes are more dominant among the aye-aye community. It will take 170 days for the aye-aye embryo to complete its growth. Aye-ayes are witnessed as the symbols of death by the Madagascar people. They kill aye-ayes at the first sight itself because of their belief that killing of an aye-aye will save the life of a villager. If the human generation fails to make conscious efforts to protect this creature, the aye-ayes species may not last longer period. Works Cited 1. “Aye-Aye”. Web. 13 April 2011 2. “Aye-Aye Madagascar”. Web. 13 April 2011. < http://allin1dot.com/aye-aye-madagascar.html > 3. “Aye-Aye Debut”. 2005. Web. 13 April 2011 4. “Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis”. 2010. Web. 13 April 2011 5. Dykes, Jeffrey. “Aye-aye Madagascar’s mysterious ‘one-of-a-kind”. Web. 13 April 2011 6. “Daubentonia madagascariensis - Aye-aye”. 2008. Web. 13 April 2011 Read More