Twin aye-ayes have been born in world first at Bristol Zoo. Their mother, 11 year old Sabrina is experienced with raising young and appears to be doing well.
The baby aye-ayes will stay with mum in the zoo’s Twilight World exhibit for up to a year. Keepers will be keeping a close eye on them as it is unclear if it will put too much strain on Sabrina to have the responsibility of raising two infants.
Assistant curator of mammals at the zoo, Lynsey Bugg said, “Sabrina is doing great job with her young but it isn’t without a lot of effort. The twins are physically demanding and it is testament to Sabrina that she and the twins appear to be doing really well. Whilst we are keeping a close eye on the group, we try to adopt a hands off approach and encourage a family dynamic close to one they would experience in the wild.”
Aye-Ayes are native to Madagascar and are odd looking primates. They have an incredibly long middle finger which is used for getting grubs out of trees and extremely large ears. These creatures also only emerge under the cover of darkness.
Unfortunately their odd appearance and behaviour has given rise to a range of superstitious beliefs on Madagascar some of which help to save them others which led to persecution.
The persecution was at one point so severe that in the 1980s it was believed that they had gone extinct. Even now after their rediscovery it is believed that only 1,000 remain.
Photo Credit: Bristol Zoo
