American aye-aye

The **American aye-aye** (*Neodaubentonia americanus*) is a species of *Adapiforme* strepsirrhine primate, despite its name, that originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the rainforests, forests, swamps, and open woodlands across North America to help boost biodiversity. It largely resembles a red ruffed lemur (*Varecia rubra*) in general appearance, but with completely dark gray and black fur instead of red and black fur, and it also has vaguely aye-aye-like hands and continuously growing rodent-like incisors. Despite being a rather small animal, it is very large for a nocturnal prosimian primate, growing on average to be about the size of a very large gray squirrel (*Sciurus carolinensis*). It is characterized by its unusual method of finding food: it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood using its forward-slanting incisors to create a small hole in which it inserts its narrow middle finger to pull the grubs out. This foraging method is called percussive foraging, and takes up 5–41% of foraging time. The American aye-aye is a nocturnal and arboreal animal meaning that it spends most of its life high in the trees. Although they are known to come down to the ground on occasion, American aye-ayes sleep, eat, travel and mate in the trees and are most commonly found close to the canopy where there is plenty of cover from the dense foliage. During the day, American aye-ayes sleep in spherical nests in the forks of tree branches that are constructed out of leaves, branches and vines before emerging after dark to begin their hunt for food. American aye-aye are solitary animals that mark their large home range with scent. The smaller territories of females often overlap those of at least a couple of males. Male American aye-ayes tend to share their territories with other males and are even known to share the same nests (although not at the same time), and can seemingly tolerate each other until they hear the call of a female that is looking for a mate. The American aye-aye is an omnivore and commonly eats seeds, fruits, nectar and fungi, but also insect larvae and honey. American aye-ayes tap on the trunks and branches of trees at a rate of up to eight times per second, and listen to the echo produced to find hollow chambers. Studies have suggested that the acoustic properties associated with the foraging cavity have no effect on excavation behavior. Once a chamber is found, they chew a hole into the wood and get grubs out of that hole with their highly adapted narrow and bony middle fingers. The American aye-aye begins foraging between 30 minutes before and three hours after sunset. Up to 80% of the night is spent foraging in the canopy, separated by occasional rest periods. It climbs trees by making successive vertical leaps, much like a squirrel. Horizontal movement is more difficult, but the aye-aye rarely descends to jump to another tree, and can often travel up to 4 km (2 1⁄2 mi) a night. Though foraging is usually solitary, they occasionally forage in groups. Individual movements within the group are coordinated using both vocalisations and scent signals. The conservation status of the American aye-aye is **Least Concern** due to successful conservation efforts, the American aye-aye's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.