THE AYE-AYE. 
Chiromys madagascatieiisis. 
Plate III. 
The Aye-aye of Madagascar is one of the scarcest and most remarkable animals that have ever been exhibited 
in the Society’s Gardens. Although discovered by the French traveller Sonnerat as long ago as in 1780, it was 
until very lately represented in European collections of Natural History only by the original stuffed specimen 
presented by its discoverer to the illustrious Buffon, who deposited it in the French National Zoological 
Museum. It was not until 1844 that a second example of this animal was received in Europe, and this also 
passed into the collection of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. A few years after this the first specimen of the 
Aye-aye reached this country. Dr. II. Sandwith, C.B., when Colonial Secretary in Mauritius, having had his 
attention called to the subject by Professor Owen, obtained, after much difficulty, a living example of the 
Aye-aye, from the forests of its native island. This animal was eventually forwarded to the British Museum 
in spirits, and became the subject of an elaborate memoir on its osteology and anatomy, read by Professor Owen 
before the Zoological Society, and printed in the fifth volume of the Society’s “Transactions.” 
The Zoological Society’s Aye-aye, which was the first, and remains up to the present time the only 
example of this animal brought alive to Europe, was received in August, 1802, from Mr. Edward Mellisli, of 
Mauritius. Mr. Mellisli had formed one of the mission sent out from Mauritius to Madagascar in 1801, to 
congratulate King Radama II. on his accession to the throne of the Ilovas, and knowing the interest that 
attached itself to the Aye-aye, had made great efforts to procure a living specimen. At the time of his visit 
to Madagascar Mr. Mellisli did not succeed in his object, but having been subsequently more successful through 
the assistance of some correspondents in the island, most liberally presented the fine adult living female of the 
Aye-aye, thus obtained, to the Society. 
The interest of the Aye-aye centres in the anomalous structure of its incisor teeth, which induced Cuvier 
to class it among the Rodents. It is, however, now universally agreed among naturalists that the Aye-aye is 
an abnormal development of the Lemurs, and must be located at the foot of the Quadrumana— the highest 
group of Mammals. 
The Aye-aye is purely nocturnal in its habits. In captivity it never leaves the darkened box provided for 
it inside its cage during the day-time, but sleeps within, with the body curled round and covered up by the 
long and bushy tail. At night it comes forth and crawls about, gnawing and destroying all the woodwork left 
exposed within its cage, and feeding on fruit and a mixture of milk, honey, and eggs, which is provided for it. 
In a letter to Professor Owen, which has been published in the Zoological Society’s “Proceedings,” 
Dr. Sandwith gives the following account of some peculiar habits of the Aye-aye:— 
“ It so happened that some thick sticks put into his cage were bored in all directions by a large and 
destructive grub, called here the Moutouk. Just at sunset the Aye-aye crept from under his blanket, yawned, 
stretched, and betook himself to his tree, where his movements are lively and graceful, though by no means 
so quick as those of a squirrel. Presently he came to one of the worm-eaten branches, which he began to 
examine most attentively ; and bending forward his ears, and applying his nose close to the bark, he rapidly 
tapped the surface with his curious second digit, as a woodpecker taps a tree, though with much less noise, 
from time to time inserting the end of his slender finger into the worm-holes, as a surgeon would a probe. At 
length he came to a part of the branch which evidently gave out an interesting sound, for he began to tear it 
with his strong teeth. lie rapidly stripped off the bark, cut into the wood, and exposed the nest of a grab, 
which he daintily picked out of its bed with the slender tapping fingers, and conveyed the luscious morsel to 
his mouth.” 
These observations have led to the conclusion that the abnormal incisor teeth of the Aye-aye have been 
“specially modified” to enable the animal to reach these wood-boring larva; in their holes, and that the 
extraordinary slender third finger was likewise “pre-ordained” to “feel, seize, and draw out” the grub. But, 
strangely enough, the Aye-aye in the Zoological Society’s Gardens refuses to touch insects and grabs of any 
sort, and lives solely on thick, sweet, glutinous fluids and fruit. Nor lias it been noticed to use its long slender 
third finger, except for the purpose of cleaning its fur, and in feeding it doubles this digit “upwards and 
backwards,” away from the rest. The conclusion, therefore, to be drawn from the habits of the Aye-aye in 
captivity would be, that its natural food is the juices of trees, obtained by tearing away tiie bark with its teeth, 
and this view would likewise account for its excessive gnawing propensities. 
