Lemurs and especially the aye-aye

I've always wanted to go to Madagascar to see the lemurs, and possibly the rare aye-aye.  Well I have seen lemurs .... in Jersey zoo (used to be called 'Durrell').  I've spend over an hour searching through old photos to try and find my pictures of the ring tailed lemurs they have there ... to no avail.   I've got some somewhere .... (heavy sigh).

But the aye aye is another matter altogether.   Its a nocturnal and very strange lemur.  I think Yoda of Star Wars fame must have been based on the aye-aye.   They both live in the twilight zone !

(from StarWars.com)

  

(from National Geographic)

The aye-aye has a strange elongated middle finger, and inhabitants of Madagascar believe that if it points its finger at you, you are doomed !   But this strange lemur has a method of feeding called percussive foraging; it taps branches and listens with its huge, bat-like ears to detect any insect or grub moving within the branch.   If it hears anything, then it quickly gnaws a hole in the wood, and uses the middle finger to pick out the grub.    The aye-aye fills the niche that woodpeckers normally fill, for they employ the same tap and listen technique.  Luckily, there are no woodpeckers on Madagascar !

I've been lucky enough to see aye-ayes in Jersey zoo ... they live in virtual darkness so when you enter their domain, you can't see a thing, until your eyes get used to the lack of light.   A faint red light barely illuminates their house, but after a while, you can see them running along branches, like a scruffy animated old thread-bare rug.   I have to say .... they also smell pretty bad too !