Aye-aye
Daubentonia madagascariensis (Gmelin, 1788)
The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a medium-sized mammal in the primate family Daubentoniidae, suborder Strepsirrhini. It is nocturnal and arboreal; its diet category is listed as herbivore and its trophic level as omnivore.
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Quick facts about the aye-aye
Adults weigh 2.5 kg, with values up to 2.61 kg reported, and the lifespan is given as 23.27 years, with values up to 32.3 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the aye-aye as Endangered (EN), a threatened category.
- Weight
- 2.5 kg – 2.61 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 23.3 years – 32.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 158 days – 172 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.41 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the aye-aye
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the aye-aye live?
Not recorded
What is the aye-aye?
The aye-aye (, Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs and larvae out of tree trunks.
It is the world's largest nocturnal primate. It is characterized by its unusual method of finding food: It taps on trees and listens for echoes that signal hollows inside them, which are often infested by grubs, then gnaws holes into the wood using its forward-slanting incisors to create a small hole into 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 the aye-aye's foraging time. The only other living mammal species known to find food in this way are the striped possum and trioks (genus Dactylopsila) of northern Australia and New Guinea, which are marsupials. From an ecological perspective, the aye-aye fills the niche of a woodpecker, as it is capable of penetrating wood to extract the invertebrates within.
The aye-aye is the only extant member of the genus Daubentonia and family Daubentoniidae. It is currently classified as Endangered by the IUCN. A second species, Daubentonia robusta, appears to have become extinct at some point within the last 1000 years, and is known from subfossil finds.
From the Wikipedia article “Aye-aye” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aye-aye&oldid=1381233445), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the aye-aye endangered?
The aye-aye is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.
How is the aye-aye classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderPrimates
- familyDaubentoniidae
- genusDaubentonia
- SpeciesDaubentonia madagascariensis (Gmelin, 1788)
Synonyms Cheiromys madagascariensis laniger, Lemur psilodactylus, Sciurus madagascariensis
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- آيآيArabic
- FingerviechBavarian
- ksukol ocasatýCzech
- FingertierGerman
- Αγιάγης (Άι-άι)Greek
- AieEstonian
- ai-aiFinnish
- Aie aieGalician
- Véznaujjú makiHungarian
- Այ-այArmenian
- Aié-aiéItalian
- Aye ayeItalian
- ChiromioItalian
- アイアイJapanese
- 아이아이Korean
- FingerdyrNorwegian Bokmål
- VingerdierDutch
- palczak madagaskarskiPolish
- Мадагаскарская руконожкаRussian
- อาย-อายThai
- AyayTurkish
- Ай-айUkrainian
- 指猴Chinese
Relatives of the aye-aye
Other species in the same order Primates.
Neanderthal
Homo neanderthalensis
Caveman
Homo erectus
Bonobo
Pan paniscus
Chimpanzee
Pan troglodytes
Human
Homo sapiens
CompareAye-aye vs NeanderthalAye-aye vs CavemanAye-aye vs BonoboAye-aye vs Chimpanzee
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the aye-aye?
The aye-aye is a mammal, a primate in the family Daubentoniidae and suborder Strepsirrhini.
How heavy is the aye-aye?
Adult Aye-ayes weigh 2.5 kg, with values up to 2.61 kg reported.
Is the aye-aye endangered?
Yes. The IUCN Red List classifies it as Endangered (EN), a threatened category.
How long does the aye-aye live?
Its lifespan is given as 23.27 years, with values up to 32.3 years reported.
What does the aye-aye eat?
Its diet category is listed as herbivore, while its trophic level is given as omnivore.
How many young does the aye-aye have?
The aye-aye has 1 young per litter and 1 litter per year, after a gestation of 167 days.
When does the aye-aye reach sexual maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 882 days, or 2.4 years.
Who named the aye-aye?
Its scientific name, Daubentonia madagascariensis, carries the authority (Gmelin, 1788).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/aye-aye
“Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/aye-aye.
@misc{aye_aye_2026,
title = {Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/aye-aye},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}