1882.] REV. L. BARON ON THE HABITS OF THE AYE- AYE. 639 



2. Notes ou the Habits of the Aye-aye of Madagascar in its 

 Native State. By L. Baron, L.M.S. Missionary. 



[EeceiTcd August 13, 1882.] 



Having recently passed through that part of Madagascar which is 

 the habitat of the Aye-aye, and having made made careful inquiries 

 from the Malagasy respecting the habits of this strange creature in 

 its native haunts, I have thought that the information gained might 

 be of interest to the members of the Society, and have therefore 

 noted down the results of my inquiries. 



The Aye-aye lives in the dense parts of the great forest that runs 

 along the eastern border of the central plateau of the island, but 

 only in that part of it which separates the Sihanaka province from 

 that of the Betsimisaraka, and which is about twenty-five miles 

 from the east coast, in latitude 17° 22' S. or thereabouts. Possibly 

 there are other parts of the country where the Aye-aye is found ; 

 but so far as my knowledge extends (and I have made inquiries in 

 different parts of the island) this is the only region where the 

 creature finds its home. In Carpenter's ' Zoology ' the Aye-aye is 

 said to be *' very rare even in its native country ;" and Mr. Gosse, in 

 one of his hooks, conjectures that it is probably nearly extinct. From 

 what I have gathered from the natives, it seems to be pretty common, 

 its nocturnal habits and the superstitious awe with which it is 

 regarded (and of which I shall presently speak) accounting for its 

 apparent rarity. 



The native name of the animal is Haihay (Hihi) ; but this is not 

 derived from the "exclamations of surprise" which the natives 

 •'exhibited at the sight of an unknown animal," but is simply 

 onomatopoetic, the creature's call being " Haihay, Haihay." The 

 animal, as is well known, is nocturnal in its habits, prowling about 

 in pairs — male and female. It has but one young one at a birth. 

 It builds a nest about two feet in diameter, of twigs and dried 

 leaves, in the dense foliage of the upper branches of trees. In this it 

 spends the day in sleep. The nest is entered by a hole at the side. 



The teeth are used in scratching away the bark of trees in search 

 of insects, and the long claw in digging out the prey when found. 

 A white insect called Andraitra (possibly the larva of some beetle) 

 seems to form its chief food. I was told that it frequently taps the 

 bark with its fore feet, and then listens for the movement of its prey 

 beneath, thus saving itself useless labour. It does not flee at the 

 sight of man, showing that for generations it has not been molested 

 by him ; which is indeed true, as the following will show. The 

 natives have a superstitious fear of the creature, beheving that it 

 possesses some supernatural power by which it can destroy those 

 who seek to capture it or do it harm. The consequence of this is 

 that it is with the greatest difficulty one can obtain a specimen. 

 With most of the people no amount of money would be a sufficient 

 inducement to go in pursuit of the creature, "because," say they, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc— 1882, No. XLIII. 43 



