The Endangered Aye-aye

The Aye-aye is an endangered species of lemur, which is apart of the primate family. Aye-ayes are located on the Eastern Coast of Madagascar. There natural habitat is the rainforest, they create their nest in the canopies of the trees. They sleep during the day and forage for food at night. The Aye-aye eats berries, nuts, fruit and by using their long middle fingers, they chew and poke holes into trees so the can grab grub from inside.

Many Aye-aye are driven out of the forests due to deforestation, so they end up on the streets of the towns nearby. As deforestation continues, many of these animals die, because they are sleeping and do not know what is going on until it is to late. Many are killed when they are being captured for zoos. Due to their odd looking appearance, many people want to capture them and show the world how they look and the way they act. The Aye-aye is very peaceful and extremely friendly, in some cases, they will go up to people and eat food right out of the people's hands.

There is a legend of the Aye-aye in Madagascar. The Malagasy People believe that the Aye-aye is a symbol of death. They say that the Aye-aye will enter into people's homes and use their long, boney middle fingers to stab a person in the heart, killing them. This causes a lot of fear, so when an Aye-aye is spotted inside of a village, the people will take whatever they have, and kill it. This is the main reason why the Aye-aye are endangered, because they are feared, and because they will steal food from the home of the villagers.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/aye-aye/
http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/aye-aye