Can't Take my Ayes Off You

Aye-Aye   (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

               From She Walks in Beauty  1814

                    -George Gordon, Lord  Byron

The aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal primate. The extraordinary combination of physical features is the result of a unique evolutionary process. They have large dish-like ears that rotate independently, incisors which grow continuously like rodents, and long fingers, especially the middle one, which is used to tap on hollow logs to fish out grubs and other insects. 
 

Endemic (native to and found nowhere else) to Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, it is the most evolutionarily distinct of all the lemurs, being the only living representative of the primate family, Daubentoniidae.  Remains have been found of another, now extinct, member of that family, estimated to be five times heavier than the aye-aye.  Scientific evidence suggests that its closest relative is the indri (Indri indri), another fascinating lemur.

Good Vibrations: http://bit.ly/1N2O108