Daubentonia madagascariensis

Remember the wise Maurice from the cartoon "Madagascar" - the advisor of the king of lemurs, the only one of all the characters who remained calm in any situation?

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In fact, this is Aye-Aye or the Madagascar lapwing (Latin Daubentonia madagascariensis) - a unique member of the family of the piriformes and a half-deigned troop, really inhabiting Madagascar.

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When in 1780, he first saw the researcher Pierre Sonner, he decided that this is one of the species of rodents - the teeth of the handkerchief are remarkably reminiscent of squirrels. Not all scientists agreed with his point of view, so for a long time there was heated debate about the systematic position of Aye-Aye. In the end, it was attributed to primates, although outwardly the rakonozhka is not much like them.

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He has a slender, elongated body from 36 to 44 cm in length. The chic fluffy tail is much longer than the trunk and head combined - not less than 60 cm. Aye-Aye weighs no more than a normal domestic cat - only 3 kg. He has a fairly large head with huge ears of a spoon-shaped form and large eyes.

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There are eighteen teeth at the gun. Interestingly, after changing dairy to permanent, fangs disappear, but the front incisors grow very large and continue to grow throughout the life of the animal. They are separated from everyone else by a decent gap.

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The entire body of the lapwing is covered with thick and stiff wool of black or brownish-brown color. Only the ears and the middle finger of the forelimbs are devoid of hair. It's funny that this finger plays the role of a multifunctional and absolutely indispensable tool. With his help, ay-ay cleans his hair, drinks water (preliminarily dipping it into a liquid) and, of course, procures food for himself.

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When looking for beetles and larvae hiding in the bark of a tree, the Aye-Aye always uses its miracle finger. First he rattles the trunk, finding a suitable prey, then gnaws through the bark (there are already sharp teeth in the course), and at the end he thrusts his middle finger into the formed hole, pinches the larva on the claw and sends it to his mouth.

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Curiously, even when they are in captivity, they can not eat without their own unique finger. When they were offered a sweet syrup on flat plastic plates, all the animals unanimously turned them over, gnawed the bottom and started dipping their finger into a thick syrup. Only so they ate it.

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In addition to insects, they eat fruits, nuts, nectar flowers and mushrooms. If a coconut comes into their paws, then the middle finger is used again - with its help the animal rattles the nut and determines the depth of the milk finding in order to find out where to pierce the hole.
One or two pairs of runners (mother with baby or female with male) live. Daylight afraid, but after sunset actively play with each other, and then go on a hunt. It's funny that animals build several day shelters and use them in turn.
They reproduce very slowly: a female gives birth to a single calf only once every two to three years, and the pregnancy itself lasts as much as 170 days. The young male remains with the mother for up to a year, and the female - up to two years. They live about 26 years old.

Unfortunately, this species is not just threatened with extinction - by the beginning of 2000 there were no more than 50 handkerchiefs in the wild.

With the best wishes, @gleb-jeglov aka Evgeny